What she’s delivered is a quiet, cosy set of slow-burning, peaceful numbers performed on acoustic guitar and piano, sung so softly that it’s occasionally hard to hear what she’s saying, but always sounds like the work of someone born to sing. But the lyrics do prove deeply reflective, often centring on loneliness, relationships and heartbreak – indeed, Asystole takes its title from a form of cardiac arrest from which it is often impossible to recover. ‘I don't live for you, I live for me / If only that were true,’ she sings, while elsewhere similar sentiments are repeated over and over. But in keeping with her description of the album as an opportunity to do a bit of emotional housework, it’s calm, confessional and reflective; not breaking down but glowing up.
FLOWERS for VASES / descansos continues what Petals For Armor started in showing just how much of Hayley Williams we still have to get to know as an artist. The Paramore question mark continues to hover, but here Hayley has once again shown that there’s more to her than one band.
Verdict: 3/5
For Fans Of: American Football, PVRIS, Dashboard Confessional
FLOWERS for VASES / descansos is out now via WEA.
READ THIS: The rise, resilience and evolution of Hayley Williams