Squirrel Flower

★★★ Planet (i) FULL TIME HOBBY. CD/DL/LP

Ella O’Connor Williams’ second album, named for an imaginary new world.

Keen to shake things up after home recording during Covid19 isolation, former gender, women’s and sexuality studies student Ella Williams swapped Arlington, Massachusetts, for Bristol, Avon, to record Planet (i) with P.J. Harvey engineer and Gruff Rhys producer Ali Chant. Like its 2020 predecessor, I Was

Born Swimming, Planet (i) (a fictitious world people settle on after fleeing Earth, apparently) is an intense, slightly avant churn from an artist who has called herself Squirrel Flower since infancy. Her upfront, glacial vocals nod to Lana Del Rey, but her backdrops are scuzzier, be it in the Belly-esque guitar squall of Hurt A Fly or the moment in Night when crunching drums take an indie strum to another plane entirely. Portishead’s Adrian Utley adds further layers to Williams’ complexity, and if she lacks overt hooks, she’s an expert on atmosphere and texture.