FLOWERS for VASES / descansos

While 2020's solo debut <i>Petals for Armor</i> indulged in R&B, funk and pop, the Paramore singer's latest collection deconstructs her loneliest and darkest feelings with a heavy dose of acoustic compositions, melancholy piano melodies and well-placed electric guitar flourishes. Williams wrote and performed the entirety of <i>FLOWERS for VASES / descansos</i> and recorded it in her Nashville home, and it serves as an ode to the suffering that precluded <i>Petals for Armor</i>'s arc of self-discovery.<br /> Williams' voice once again takes centre stage, intertwined within the record's pensive compositions, varying from barely a whisper ("First Thing to Go") to a simmering rage ("Trigger"). "My Limb" dabbles in the macabre ("If you gotta amputate/Don't give me the tourniquet"), the delicate "Asystole" compares a past relationship to the most fatal form of cardiac arrest, and the folk-tinged "Good Grief" focuses on how love slowly dissolves. This 14-track post-mortem adds another chapter of honest reflection to Williams' ever-growing repertoire, laying her past demons to rest.