Live Review: Squirrel Flower Gets Up Close and Personal at Brighton Music Hall
Boston has a trend of musicians who make their start here, and then for a variety of reasons find that living elsewhere makes more sense. The parochialism in us refuse to recognize this and so the “local act” tag persists long after the mail forwarding has ceased.
Ella Williams, who makes music under the moniker of Squirrel Flower, is happily situated in the Midwest but she still has a sizeable fanbase here and dropped some local knowledge, asking if anyone had ever been to Lanes and Games. It’s the old bowling alley at the end of Route 2 in Alewife, that’s now converted to (guess what?) condos.
She adopted a loose, familiar feel with the assembled crowd, starting off with the solo number “I Don’t Use a Trash Can,” an unblinking look at depression and the black hole one can fall into. The track is from her new Tomorrow’s Fire record but first appeared on a CD from eight years ago.
Williams’ self-assuredness translated to her capable band. Her haunting slide that opened “Canyon” soon yielded to the full push of the rhythm section to sweep it along, the cell phone forever buried under rubble. At times she sounds like Grouper or Sharon Van Etten, but the final song covering Caroline Polachek belied her current listening pile.
Truth Club was the middle band, and as happenstance had it, two weeks ago they flashed on my radar via word of mouth when an overseas friend shared a Bandcamp link. It got me pretty excited about seeing them and they sound instantly familiar, yet they have a sound of their own. Boston’s own Pile is certainly one strand of their weave, and flecks of Pavement and Wingtip Sloat, a vegetarian version of Meat Wave, and even a more relaxed Unwound all come crashing to the forefront. Singer Travis Harrington’s vocals meanders all around the melody line, never lingering too long on spot. Check out their just-released Running From The Chase, it’s definitely landing on my best of 2023 list.
