I Was Born Swimming

Hard to ignore, her voice is glorious and rich, and her music intoxicating. ‘I Was Born Swimming’ is an intense journey to take with its creator, but it envelops entirely. You are where she is, you feel as she does.

Brooding and hypnotic, I Was Born Swimming is delicately sombre, yet diverse in such a way that evades any risk of tedium.

A US singer-songwriter-guitarist who values both tranquil folk purity, rooted in her crystal-clear voice, and '70s classic-rock range, in the same smouldering fashion as Red House Painters and Jeff Buckley. [Mar 2020, p.95]

One of 2020 most engaging new artists. [Mar 2020, p.122]

It’s the imagery that Williams draws from in her lyrics that places you there. ... Despite the sense of movement, one doesn’t get the feeling that Williams is driving, running or swimming towards nor away from anything in particular. Rather, that she’s on the journey because it means something in itself to sit alone in a dark and silent car and see everything become clearer.

Laudably, unfussy. [Feb 2020, p.35]

Throughout I Was Born Swimming, Williams pokes around in her own mind while wearing a tiny headlamp, digging up romantic evening encounters, lonely late-night drives and midnight beach jaunts. It never quite feels like daylight. But the instrumentation is such that the record never feels cold, either. You’ll just want to sink into it, like a warm bath, or maybe a 4 p.m. ocean that’s been baking in the hot sun all day.

Slow-moving and thoughtful, I Was Born Swimming thrives on its central idea of rootlessness, roving through moments of heartache, joy, wistfulness, and the myriad pangs of melancholy that accompany personal growth. Brimming with personal observations and subtly dynamic performances, Williams offers a strong debut.

There’s a real sense of space, Squirrel Flower already showing herself to be an artist comfortable in her own skin. They aren’t all hushed ballads though, the instrumentation even verges on grungy at times, but make no mistake, there’s an absolute flow here. An accomplished first full-length.

While I Was Born Swimming never goes into the unfamiliar, Williams' gushing charm is more than comforting enough to feel what it's like to exist somewhere in between destinations.

I Was Born Swimming is her most expansive and professional-sounding record to date, and on the whole, does more right than wrong. But it’s an MFA of an album. As a project, it’s admirable. As an album, it leaves you cold.