Following the release of her beautiful ‘I Was Born Swimming’ album via Full Time Hobby earlier this year, Squirrel Flower (Ella O’Connor Williams) has shared stand-alone single ‘Take It or Leave It’ and a cover of Caroline Polachek’s ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Felings’ – the last song Ella played live before quarantine.
Originally appearing on a limited bonus 7″ and swathed in sadness, ‘I Was Born Swimming’ is an ethereal and visceral (‘You were a bird with your wings tied down, you were a child in a summer gown saying take it or leave it’) song that finds Ella playing her grandmother’s accordion and grandfather’s nylong string guitar. Ella then talks about trying to reason with something yet the ‘wind holds me down, tugging at my dress’.
‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings’ finds Ella giving Polachek’s heartbreaking original song a burst of Julien Baker-style guitar and surrounding it with subtle shoegazing sounds. You feel every emotion when she sings ‘Damn, I miss you tonight’.
