Squirrel Flower — the Chicago-based project of Ella Williams — announces her new album, Tomorrow’s Fire, out October 13th on Polyvinyl / Full Time Hobby (UK/EU), presents its two lead singles, “Full Time Job” and “When A Plant Is Dying,” and announces headlining US & international tour dates. Following Williams’ acclaimed 2021 LP, Planet (i), and its subsequent Planet EP, Squirrel Flower might’ve been labeled something like “indie folk”; but Tomorrow’s Fire is a rock record, made to be played loud. Tomorrow’s Fire glides effortlessly over emotional states of being, lightness and heaviness, and cements Williams’ status as one of indie rock’s finest songwriters.
Lead singles “Full Time Job” and “When a Plant is Dying” narrate the universal desperation that comes with living as an artist. The frustration in Williams’ lyrics is echoed by the music’s uninhibited, ferocious production. “There must be more to life/ Than being on time,” she sings on the latter’s towering chorus. Lyrics like that one are fated to become anthemic, and Tomorrow’s Fire overflows with them. “Doing my best is a full time job/ But it doesn’t pay the rent” Williams sings on “Full Time Job” over careening feedback, her steady delivery imposing order over a song that is, at its heart, about a loss of control. The accompanying “Full Time Job” / “When a Plant is Dying” videos, directed by Lua Borges, see Williams across a variety of terrain.
Less than an hour south of Chicago, along the shores of Lake Michigan, sits the Indiana Dunes, a protected expanse of shoreline recently designated a National Park. When Williams first visited the Dunes, she was awed by the juxtaposition of its natural splendor within the surrounding industrial corridor of Northwest Indiana. “Every time I go there, it changes my life,” she says, without a hint of hyperbole.“You stand in the marshlands and to your left is a steel factory belching fire and to your right is a nuclear power plant.” Across the water, Chicago waits, its glistening towers made possible by the same steel forged here. For as long as she’s been making music, Ella Williams’ songs have been products of the environments they’re written in, born out of the same world they so vividly hold a mirror to. This environment is where her magnetic new album, Tomorrow’s Fire, lives.
The music Williams makes as Squirrel Flower has always communicated a strong sense of place. The most recent, Planet (i), was laden with climate anxiety, while the subsequent Planet EP marked an important turning point in Williams’ prolific career; the collection of demos was the first self-produced material she’d released in some time.With a renewed confidence as a producer, she helmed Tomorrow’s Fire at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville alongside storied engineer Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Indigo de Souza, Snail Mail). Williams and Farrar tracked many of the instruments, building the songs together during the first week, and then assembled a studio band that included Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver), Seth Kauffman (Angel Olsen band), Jake Lenderman (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday), and Dave Hartley (The War on Drugs) lending their contributions. As if to signal this shift, the album opens with the soaring “i don’t use a trashcan,” a re-imagining of the first ever Squirrel Flower song. Williams returns to her past to demonstrate her growth as an artist and to nod to those early shows, when her voice, looped and minimalistic, had the power to silence a room. She cites artists like Jason Molina, Tom Waits, and Springsteen as fonts of inspiration for Tomorrow’s Fire, musicians who knew how to write into the mind of a stranger, who could tell you the story of a life in under four minutes. “The songs I write are not always autobiographical, but they’re always true,” Williams says. Tomorrow’s Fire might sound like the title of an apocalypse album, but it’s not. Tomorrow’s Fire references the title of a novel Williams’ great-grandfather Jay wrote about a troubadour, named for a line by the Medieval French poet Rutebeuf, a troubadour himself: “Tomorrow’s hopes provide my dinner/ Tomorrow’s fire must warm tonight.” Centuries on, the quote spoke to Williams, who describes the fire as a tool to wield in the face of nihilism. Tomorrow’s Fire is what we take solace in, what we know will make us feel okay in the morning, how we light the path we're walking on. This month, Williams is performing a string of dates supporting Hurray For The Riff Raff. Later this fall, she will embark on a headlining tour beginning in US and extending internationally in 2024. Full dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now.
Wed. July 12 - Nashville, TN @ 3rd & Lindsley *
Thu. July 13 - Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop Bar *
Sat. July 15 - Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe *
Sun. July 16 - Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop *
Tue. July 18 - Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios *
Wed. July 19 - Wilmington, DE @ Arden Gild Hall *
Fri. July 21 - Lexington, KY @ The Burl *
Wed. July 26 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway *
Fri. Aug. 4 - Sun. Aug. 6 - Green Lake, WI @ Avrom Farm Party
Thu. Oct. 19 - Detroit, MI @ Lager House $
Fri. Oct. 20 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern $#
Sat. Oct. 21 - Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern $#
Sun. Oct. 22 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Bottlerocket Social Hall $
Tue. Oct. 24 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall $^
Thu. Oct. 26 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom $
Fri. Oct. 27 - Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club $
Sat. Oct. 28 - Washington, DC @ DC 9 $^
Sat. Nov. 4 - Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
Sun. Nov. 5 - Brighton, UK @ The Hope and Ruin
Mon. Nov. 6 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Tue. Nov. 7 - Manchester, UK @ Gullivers
Thu. Nov. 9 - Glasgow, UK @ McChuills
Sat. Nov. 11 - Pitchfork Music Festival London @ EartH (Downstairs)
Mon. Nov. 13 - Paris, FR @ Supersonic
Wed. Nov. 15 - Rotterdam, NL @ V11
Thu. Nov. 16 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique
Sat. Nov. 18 - Berlin, DE @ Lark
Sat. Jan. 20 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry %
Sun. Jan. 21 - Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge %
Tue. Jan. 23 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge %
Thu. Jan. 25 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court %
Fri. Jan. 26 - Boise, ID @ The Shredder %
Sat. Jan. 27 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios %
Mon. Jan. 29 - Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
Wed. Jan. 31 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill %
Fri. Feb. 2 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room &
Sat. Feb. 3 - Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room &
Sun. Feb. 4 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge &
Tue. Feb. 6 - Austin, TX @ The Ballroom +
Wed. Feb. 7 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada +
Thu. Feb. 8 - Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic +
Sat. Feb. 10 - Nashville, TN @ Blue Room at Third Man +
Mon. Feb. 12 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade Purgatory
Wed. Feb. 14 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle Back Room
Thu. Feb. 15 - Richmond, VA @ The Camel
Fri. Feb. 16 - Woodstock, NY @ Colony
Sat. Feb. 17 - Amherst, MA @ The Drake
* supporting Hurray for the Riff Raff
$ w/ Truth Club
# w/ Merce Lemon
^ w/ Knifeplay
% w/ Goon
& w/ Cryogeyser
+ w/ Alexalone
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