Planet (i)

Instead of throwing perspective on her fears, anxieties and problems and helping to alleviate them, that context and duality only amplifies them. They become her, and she becomes them. ... ‘Hurt A Fly’ is one of the more optimistic-sounding songs on the album, but even its hopeful tone is laden with the threat and/or promise of everything crashing down. The tender strains of ‘Pass’ also offer a glimmer of hope, but one that, inevitably, eventually burns out and turns to dust.

Album two is just as strong as album one but in a different way. Miss her at your peril.

Williams’ music once again excels in the small details. Texture and atmosphere rule her world more than earworm hooks. Outside of the moments of gnarled solos and the occasional scuzzy distortion, Williams invites your attention more than demands it. But when that attention is given, new depths to her songwriting reveal themselves.

Like Squirrel Flower's debut, Planet (i) is a journey through an ever changing landscape and marks a noticeable creative step forward for Williams.

The title is Williams’ name for the world in which her music is set and it’s one where disaster looms large – dark, evocative and minor-key rich; menacing live drums and corkscrew bass hanging heavy in the atmosphere. [Aug 2021, p.33]

It’s a fine tuned record that leans into bold pop refrains whilst gripping firmly onto its DIY roots. It’s an irresistible listen.

This tendency that Williams has of interweaving her inner emotional climate with the breathable aura of nature was on magical display through last year’s debut album, I Was Born Swimming, and it’s something she hones further here.

While parts of Planet (i) can feel akin to standing out in the sun on a particularly sweltering day, Squirrel Flower’s talent as a chronicler of relationships and memories makes this album worth exploring.

Planet (i) is bigger and bolder than Squirrel Flower’s previous work, augmenting Williams’ alternate tunings and folkie charm with grand gestures and abrupt tonal shifts. ... Like I Was Born Swimming, Planet (i) grows a bit listless towards the back half (“Desert Wildflowers”), and some of its song fragments don’t quite land.

Gems like “Headlights” and “Seasonal Affective Disorder” were drenched in delicate, heart-wrenching beauty — and these songs are in short supply of that. But Williams makes up for it with tracks that showcase her sharp songwriting over maximum guitar distortion.

For all the immediacy of these tracks, the core of others can get lost: on ‘Pass’, she perseveres through changing seasons and a tornado, yet ultimately a high-pitched, burbling synthesiser is the obstacle that proves too much, distracting from the atmosphere that’s been so carefully cultivated.