Nine months after the release of her debut solo album, 2020's
Petals for Armor,
Hayley Williams returns with a surprise follow-up, 2021's deeply introspective
Flowers for Vases/descansos. Where
Petals for Armor found
Williams collaborating with a handful of close associates, including her
Paramore bandmate
Taylor York,
Flowers for Vases/descansos is an even more solo-oriented project with
Williams playing all of the instruments herself and recording alone with
Canon Blue's Daniel James producing. Largely acoustic with a limited amount of overdubs,
Flowers feels somewhat more minimalist than the aesthetically varied
Petals -- which isn't to say it's any less impressive. There is a sense that
Williams is celebrating her influences, dipping into a little
Fleetwood Mac twang here ("Over Those Hills"), some angelic folk harmonies à la
Linda Ronstadt there ("Good Grief"). Then there's the slow-churning anthem "Just a Lover," a piano ballad that eventually crashes to a halt in a tidal wave of distorted bass and shimmering electric guitar; it's messier and more sprawling than anything
Williams has done with
Paramore, conjuring the brooding energy of late-'70s
Patti Smith. We also get several delicately haunting and ambient songs like "KYRH" and the instrumental "Descansos" that bring to mind artists like
Brian Eno and
Philip Glass and speak to her broad taste.
As with much of
Petals for Armor,
Flowers for Vases/descansos feels like
Williams continuing on a journey of self-reflection, toiling with her personal demons, and transforming her pain into intimate hymns. It's a mood that's not just reflected in the lyrics but also the music. Many of the songs feel like they might have been written on her bed or back porch. In fact, one of the most potent tracks, "HYD" ("How're You Doing"), begins unassumingly with what sounds like
Williams recording outside into a tape deck until she is interrupted by a loud airplane flying overhead. After a wry exclamation of "Are you f*cking kidding me,"
Williams starts the song again, this time in the studio as she ruminates on someone absent from her life. She sings, "When the air is quiet and the sky is blue/I can't help being reminded of you/And how your eyes are shut, so you cannot see/Just how very close/I keep you to me." Even in the darkest moments on
Flowers for Vases/descansos,
Williams reaches out and beckons you ever closer. ~ Matt Collar