Squid / O Monolith LP / Out Now

SQUID

O MONOLITH LP

WARP RECORDS // OUT NOW

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★)

“An intricate web that is a joy to get tangled up in.” DORK (4★)

SQUID’s sophomore album O MONOLITH is out now via Warp Records. Thrillingly complex, hugely varied and strikingly evocative, O Monolith mixes avant-garde and progressive songwriting with their knack for harnessing irresistible grooves and delivering punch.

O Monolith follows on from their 2021 critically acclaimed debut album Bright Green Field, which reached #4 in the UK album charts. Like its processor, O Monolith is dense and tricksy but also more warm and characterful with a meandering, questioning nature. Teeming with melodic epiphanies and layered sounds, O Monolith is a musical evocation of the environment, domesticity and self-made folklore. The record captures modern anxieties and foreboding futures and wraps them through a distinctly English lens.

Previously released singles Swing (In A Dream), Undergrowth and The Blades dealt with themes of environmental peril, reincarnation and the natural world. Restless in their artistic evolution, Squid have delved further into multi-disciplinary outlets. A homemade, fully playable video game accompanied Undergrowth, whilst the high-concept video for The Blades, directed by Kasper Haggstrom (Radiohead, Kelly Lee Owens) sees the brilliant Charlotte Ritchie locked in a Kafka-esque nightmare. The artwork – a handwoven tapestry designed by Oscar Torrans – the singles and the videos have all found wide international acclaim, with both Swing (In A Dream) and Undergrowth being added BBC 6 Music A-list.

New single After The Flash, arriving alongside the album release, features vocals by frequent collaborator Martha Skye Murphy. Lyrically the track leaves the confines of earth altogether, with Murphy’s vocals soaring alongside vocalist and drummer Ollie Judge as he eschews his previously prevalent sprechgesang for a more forlorn, introspective croon.

Collaborations have been an important part of O Monolith: choral ensemble Shards, woodwind players and additional percussionists Zands Duggan and Henry Terrett all enrich the album with more texture and earthy expanse. Alongside the softer and more human tones, Real World’s in-house programmer Roger Bolton, who the band befriended in the local pub, introduced Squid to the Fairlight CMI sampler, a powerhouse of 80s electronic production and known for their pioneering use by Kate Bush. On After The Flash the band used the computer data to play the Fairlight, resulting in a distinctive rising tone that haunts the song, an auditory illusion of a perpetually rising tone builds the song’s euphoric finish.

O Monolith began its gestation only two weeks after the release of their debut Bright Green Field, whilst on the band’s Fieldworks tour. Ollie Judge says of that time, “Without that tour we wouldn’t have any of these tracks. In some form or another we played about 80% of O Monolith, mostly without lyrics.” The songs continued to come together in rehearsal rooms around Bristol, where the band were based at the time, eventually moving to Real World. This change in environment further pushed the development of the band’s sound from claustrophobic post-punk to something more free-flowing and spacious. Production on the album comes from long-time collaborator Dan Carey and is complemented by mixing from John McEntire of Tortoise.

The cyber-folk esotericism continues across the breadth of O Monolith, from the witch hunt folk-horror od Devil’s Den (named after a Neolithic Wiltshire monument and ripe with references to English folkloric tradition) to explorations of twenty-four hour news and compassion fatigue on Siphon Song, and the falsehoods of celebrity on Green Light. Anton’s lyrics for If You Had Seen The Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away consider the intertwined relationship between humans and rats, inspired by Theo Anthony’s Rat Film. An itchy, disarming closing track, it is alive with a swarm of voices, bolstered by Shards.

O Monolith retains Squid’s restless, enigmatic spirit, but still holds surprises for those familiar with their Bright Green Field debut. It’s a reflection of the outsized progression of a band always looking to the future. O Monolith is vast and strange, alive with endless possible interpretations.

Kicking off the album live dates, SQUID embark on a series of intimate instore and outstore shows around the UK before heading off for larger venues in the EU, UK and the US. Full UK and Irish dates as below.

INSTORE & OUTSTORE DATES

JUNE

Sat 10 BRIGHTON Resident Records

Sun 11 BRISTOL Rough Trade Records (Sold Out)

Mon 12 TOTNES Drift Records @ The Barrel House (Sold Out)

Tue 13 SHEFFIELD Bear Tree Records @ Foundry Studio

Wed 14 LEEDS Crash Records @ Brudenell Social Club

Thu 15 LONDON Rough Trade East Records (Matinee Show) (Sold Out)

Thu 15 LONDON Rough Trade East Records (Evening Show) (Sold Out)

UK FESTIVAL & ALBUM TOUR DATES

JULY

Fri 21 HERTFORDSHIRE Standon Calling Festival