In October we proudly announced a new addition to the Polyvinyl family – Squirrel Flower, the moniker of Ella O’Connor Williams. She was born on August 11th 1996, the hottest day of the year, still inside of a translucent caul sac membrane surrounded by amniotic fluid. It’s this origin story that inspired the name of her debut album, I Was Born Swimming, out January 31st.

Ella shares this and more in a new clip filmed at Chicago's infamous The Empty Bottle – watch an Introduction to Squirrel Flower below. Learn more about her writing & recording process at Rare Book Studios in Brooklyn with Gabe Wax. Not to be missed: studio footage of Ella's dad contributing bass during the album session –

Williams comes from a deep-rooted musical family tree. Her grandparents were classical musicians who lived in the Gate Hill Co-op, an artistic cooperative from upstate New York that grew out of Black Mountain College. Ella’s father, Jesse Williams, spent most of his life as a touring jazz and blues performer and educator, and lends his bass playing to the album (listen for his smooth solo on “Headlights”). As a child, Williams adopted the alter ego of Squirrel Flower. A couple years later, she began singing with the Boston Children’s Chorus while studying music theory and teaching herself to play the guitar.
Squirrel Flower’s music is ethereal and warm, gushing with emotional depth that the listener can step into like a warm bath. The band on I Was Born Swimming plays with delicate intention, keeping the arrangements natural and light. The album was tracked live with few overdubs. The musicians were selected by Wax and folded themselves into the songs effortlessly. At the heart of the album lives Williams’ massive, haunted vibrating voice and melancholic, soulful guitar playing. The album’s lyrics feel like effortless expressions of exactly the way it feels to change — abstract, sad and hopeful. Williams eventually returns to the image of her in the sac; born swimming, knowing how to exist, love herself, and not needing anyone else to do it for her.
Born swimming in blue water
Didn’t ever need another
Now I live underwater.
Heat’s rising
Can you see it shimmer?
I’m spinning
Can you see me shimmer?
I’m moving faster than it
Can you see me shimmer?
So dip me in the water