by Niccolo Dante Porcello (@chromechompsky)
Squirrel Flower is the project of Grinnell College musician Ellä Williams, and “Not Your Prey” is the gorgeous, meandering first single off of her upcoming debut Contact Sports on It Takes Time Records. “Not Your Prey” finds Williams in the sonic space inhabited by contemporaries Mitski and Angel Olsen, among others, although hers is a more gothic tenor. Williams voice towers over pounding drums and a stoically distorted guitar line, “but if you touch me I won’t be still/ you’re no predator/ I’m not your prey/ I’m not your kill.“ Defiance radiates throughout; as the song swells and contracts, the singular constant is Williams and her phenomenally interesting vocal tenor. It defines “Not Your Prey.” Outside of this, Williams provides an excellent iteration of the fuzzed out sound of recent times – a fitting and consistently enjoyable soundtrack to an inescapably chaotic time both nationally and abroad.