"Following 2019's Beware of the Dogs, Flood is Donnelly's album of rediscovery: it's the product of months of experimentation, difficult moments of introspection and a lot of transition. Like the many banded stilts that dot the cover, Donnelly wades into uncharted territory, learning who she is as an artist and how inclusive an individual she can be. During her time in the Australian rainforests of Bellingen, Donnelly discovered her love of birdwatching. By paying more attention to the nature around her, she was able to "lose the feeling that anyone was responding to me. I forgot who I was as a musician and it was an overwhelming experience just to be, to be little me." She wrote 43 songs when she left Bellingen and moved around the country. "I had so many opportunities to write in strange places," Donnelly notes. "I often had no choice where I stayed. There's no denying that closing the borders when you don't have access to your family narrows your view of the parts of your life that matter to you." Looking back on Banded Stilt, Donnelly appreciates above all that "seen in a group they create an optical illusion, but on their own they're a unique work of art." While each song on Flood is a unique work of art in its own right, collectively they share everything of Stella Donnelly in abundance: her inner child, her loving self, her nightmarish self; everything of herself has gone into the making of this record, and while it would take an ocean to fathom everything she feels, it's worth diving in."