Elle Mannion | March 13, 2024
“This little guy is someone we picked up on the road,” Squirrel Flower, aka songwriter Ella Williams, says between songs, referencing a tiny toy alligator resting on her mic stand. The Chicago-based indie rocker stopped by the Tiny Desk on the heels of touring her latest album, Tomorrow’s Fire. Here, she plays stripped back versions of her thundering rock songs without her band, giving way for her low register, affecting lyricism and guitar skills to shine.
There’s an intensity unique to each song Williams plays in her Tiny Desk set. “I told you, I've never been in love,” she begins on the aching "Almost Pulled Away.” On “Alley Light,” she sings about not being able to take things slow, musing “maybe that’s why she loves me.” The set seems to reach its apex on “Finally Rain,” when Williams' vocals ring the loudest. But then for the closer, “Iowa 146,” Williams thaws as she performs with a quiet kind of focus that’s just as powerful. She carefully plucks her strings and asks gently: “If I play you guitar, will everything fall away?”
SET LIST
"Almost Pulled Away"
"Alley Light"
"Finally Rain"
"Iowa 146"
MUSICIANS
Squirrel Flower: vocals, guitar
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Elle Mannion
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
#tinydesk #nprmusic #squirrelflower