SQUID TEAM UP WITH TIM KEY AND PAUL EWEN TO PRESENT LESSONS
FEATURING MUSIC BY ANTON PEARSON FROM SQUID
ARTWORK BY OSCAR TORRANS
Ahead of their UK, Irish and EU autumn tour, SQUID are treating the world to a very different listening experience. The band enlisted English poet, comedian and actor TIM KEY to record the audio of the PAUL EWEN story, LESSONS, which fans will have found in pamphlet form inside vinyl copies of their new album O MONOLITH. The audio is available free via Bandcamp and on Squid’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeFtkjgkiHM
The band are huge admirers of Tim and Paul’s surreal podcast LONDON PUB REVIEWS and, during the recording sessions for O Monolith, reached out to Paul asking if he would consider writing a narrative accompaniment to the record in that vein. On receiving the story, it felt only right to see if Tim might be up for bringing it to life in his inimitable way.
Anton from Squid on the project:
“We’ve loved working with these two people we really admire. John Fahey’s story insert to his 1967 album The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death inspired the project and, after reading and listening to Paul Ewen’s amazing work (London Pub Reviews, How to be a Public Author) and talking to him, we found he had a great understanding of our work and exciting ideas for the project. He said he wanted to write a story about an out of touch geography teacher and it doesn’t get much more exciting than THAT! Similarly, Tim seems to have an amazing grasp of Paul’s humour and his delivery takes it to another level, as is the case on the pub reviews series. I went to see Tim on his Mulberry tour and loved it, so I was very excited to have him involved. It was fun writing some music for the audiobook; I used stems from the album for some of it and built other bits from scratch. I hope people enjoy listening to the audiobook and can pick up on few themes from O Monolith running through it.”
Paul Ewen on the collaboration:
“It’s one of the best collaborations I’ve had. O Monolith is both brilliant and wonderful, and it’s been a privilege to add some not-so-serious storytelling about serious issues to this seriously good album.”
SQUID have also announced the support acts for their forthcoming tours. Main support will be from BLUE BENDY in the UK and Ireland and will be shared between CLARISSA CONNOLLY and NAIMI BOCK in the EU. Full UK and Irish dates as follows:
OCTOBER
Fri 13 BRISTOL SWX
Sat 14 BRISTOL SWX
Mon 16 BIRMINGHAM Town Hall
Tue 17 LEEDS O2 Academy
Wed 18 MANCHESTER New Century
Sat 21 GLASGOW Barrowland
Sun 22 NEWCASTLE Boiler Shop
Tue 24 BELFAST Mandela Hall
Wed 25 DUBLIN Vicar Street
NOVEMBER
Wed 01 LONDON Troxy
Tickets available HERE
PRAISE FOR O MONOLITH
“Squid’s wayward invention has had space to breathe, adding a new confidence to their defiant leaps of faith.” MOJO (4★)
“This is complex music – there are no catchy melodies to hook on to or big choruses to sing along to – but it’s fascinating, rewarding of persistence and totally worth losing yourself in.” THE TIMES (4★)
“If Squid can make daring, experimental music sound as fun as this, then they will take some stopping.” NME (9★)
“Everything here has been given room to expand, songs drifting from dreamy ascension to full-blown rock revelation and back again. An album of immense power and conviction.” DIY (4.5★)
“Inconceivably, Squid have reset the benchmark of their boundless creativity on towering new record O Monolith, a sprawling endeavour that sees them scale new sonic breadth, experimenting, mutating and extending their many limbs in new directions.” LOUD AND QUIET (8★)
“O Monolith channels the shapeshifting patterns of Steve Reich and late-period Radiohead to fashion a kind of lush English pastoral that seethes and shimmers at every turn.” UNCUT (8★)
“O Monolith is less of a second chapter, and more of a completely distinct book.” CLASH (8★)
“O Monolith is a torn up patchwork of terrain; scorching sands sutured violently into haunting forestry, sprawling ocean scapes tidally enveloping dense metropolitan high-rises.” THE SKINNY (4★)
“O Monolith is the younger sibling who followed a rabbit in the woods expecting to find wonderland and ended up in The Wicker Man.” GIGWISE (8★)
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