Hayley Williams FLOWERS for VASES / descansos LP

One Of Rolling Stone's The Best Albums of 2021 So Far!

Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore, recently celebrated the surprise release of her second solo project, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos.The gripping album was written and performed in its entirety by Williams, a career first for the music industry titan. Recorded at her home in Nashville, the 14-track album spans from stories of love to stories of loss. "In a world that often requires us to ignore our deepest needs, Hayley Williams does not provide a light at the end of the tunnel or a closed door, but a new body, a new tongue, and possibly a new frame of reference to survive and even thrive," writes NPR.

Named one of the best albums of the year so far by outlets such as Rolling Stone and SPIN.

Williams wrote and performed FLOWERS for VASES entirely alone. Her choices here reveal a songwriter more indebted to the arpeggiated guitar of a '70s folk singer like Sibylle Baier than the power chords of mall punk. The acoustic finger picking on 'Wait On' and 'HYD' feels immediately familiar, as if pulled from a book of folk standards. Her melodies, both on the guitar and on her maudlin, muted piano, are unpretentious and unadorned, their minimal flourishes reflective of her isolated environment. Williams doesn't innovate on the basics, but for a singer who has long hidden anger behind blown-out reverb and larger-than-life synths, her pared-back instrumentation feels like a modest yet purposeful reset.

...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.... Even in the darkest moments on Flowers for Vases/descansos, Williams reaches out and beckons you ever closer.