Hayley Williams “FLOWERS for VASES / descansos” Album Review

With her second LP out less than a year after her solo debut, it has been a busy start of the decade for Hayley Williams. The Paramore frontwoman has taken her sentimental drive down enough roads for a truly game-changing voyage. FLOWERS for VASES / descansos reveals a much tamer side of her capabilities, using the lower end of her four-octave range for syrupy folk melodies. Additionally, Williams plays every single instrument on the record and recorded it all from her home in Nashville.

While no one was expecting such a quick follow-up to her debut solo album Petals for Armor, she describes it as more of a “prequel or some sort of detour between parts one and two of Petals.” Despite its thematic connection to Petals, it displays Williams’ post-divorce struggles under an entirely new light – one that is much dimmer. FLOWERS places you alongside Williams in the shadow of her past as she softly strums an acoustic guitar and croons her narration. The intimacy gives you an up-close-and-personal look at her fatigued yet hopeful spirit.

Of all the albums Williams has worked on, FLOWERS is definitely the least polished and produced. Several tracks are best off listened to as calming background music, while only a select few feature her stepping into brighter realms. Unlike each finely-tuned Paramore song, this record flows more like a stream of consciousness from the inner quietude of Williams’ soul.

The vulnerable “First Thing To Go” is a delicate opening about slowly forgetting her ex’s voice while in quarantine. She sings softly yet passionately, “Why do memories glow the way real moments don’t? / My altar is full of our love’s delusions.” While the song doesn’t snatch your attention the way openers generally do, the natural guitar tone and elusive production bring out the raw feeling behind every chord strummed. It is easy to get lost in her soothing vocal delivery and silvery string plucks.

The most perfected song is undoubtedly “My Limb”, a grim serenade that compares losing a lover to losing a limb “If you gotta amputate, don’t give me the tourniquet.” She repeats the title throughout the chorus while discreet murmurs of “let go” and “don’t let go” encroach beneath, providing deep-seated views of her unshakeable thoughts. Contrarily, “Over Those Hills” offers a lighthearted concept like you’re sitting with her on her front porch, watching the sunrise and pondering what her ex-husband’s post-marriage life might be like. It also includes the first guitar solo she has ever written.

The reminiscent “Inordinary” is as rosy as the record gets, where Williams recalls her early life and moving from Mississippi to Franklin, Tennessee with her mother. She sings of how there is beauty in ordinary things over simple chord progressions and twinkling pianos. The peaceful repetition in “KYRH” and “No Use I Just Do” shares a similar comforting demeanor, despite their mournful lyrics.

Penultimate track and lo-fi piano interlude “Descansos” shows how Williams can paint a picture without using vocals and lyrics. The title is a conjugation of the Spanish word for “to rest”, and also describes the site of an unexpected death where a cross is placed in memoriam. The piano continues for a gentle transition into the final track, “Just A Lover”. The melodies gradually become more uplifting until a full band finally breaks in for the last minute of the record. She carries on her low-register sneers over the booming instruments, but with a higher octave layered underneath that ties everything together for a powerful finish.

FLOWERS isn’t a Paramore-esque album meant to be shouted from the rooftops, but rather an album for quiet reflection. It reads and listens like a diary dug up from the core of an isolated heart, with little more than fingered arpeggios and mellow keys bringing it to life. Now that Williams has gotten these folksy tunes off her chest, she is ready for a new Paramore record.

Favorite tracks: My Limb, Over Those Hills, Just A Lover