Squid delivered more than we could have hoped for in 2021 with their Exclaim!-favourite debut full-length album Bright Green Field, and now they're following that effort up with their sophomore release, O Monolith, due June 9 via Warp.
Produced by long-time collaborator, black midi producer Dan Carey, and mixed by John McEntire, the earliest version of the record began while the quintet of Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson were on tour in 2021, only two weeks after dropping their debut. Everything would come together in Bristol before the band put the finishing touches on at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Wiltshire.
"Without that tour we wouldn't have any of these tracks," Judge explained. "People were so looking forward to seeing live music that we thought we could just play anything, even if it was unfinished. In some form or another we played about 80 percent of O Monolith, mostly without lyrics."
Today, the band share the record's lead single "Swing (In a Dream)" alongside a Where's Waldo?-esque music video by Yoonah Park. The track itself was inspired by a dream Judge had about a Jean-Honoré Fragonard painting: "In my dream, I was in the painting but it was flooded and everything was floating away," he explained.
In addition to new music on the way, group have also mapped out a run of 2023 tour dates, though none so far in Canada.
Check out the video for Squid's "Swing (In a Dream)" below, where you'll also see the album's tracklisting.
O Monolith:
1. Swing (In a Dream)
2. Devil's Den
3. Siphon Song
4. Undergrowth
5. The Blades
6. After the Flash
7. Green Light
8. If You Had Seen the Bull's Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away
Produced by long-time collaborator, black midi producer Dan Carey, and mixed by John McEntire, the earliest version of the record began while the quintet of Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson were on tour in 2021, only two weeks after dropping their debut. Everything would come together in Bristol before the band put the finishing touches on at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Wiltshire.
"Without that tour we wouldn't have any of these tracks," Judge explained. "People were so looking forward to seeing live music that we thought we could just play anything, even if it was unfinished. In some form or another we played about 80 percent of O Monolith, mostly without lyrics."
Today, the band share the record's lead single "Swing (In a Dream)" alongside a Where's Waldo?-esque music video by Yoonah Park. The track itself was inspired by a dream Judge had about a Jean-Honoré Fragonard painting: "In my dream, I was in the painting but it was flooded and everything was floating away," he explained.
In addition to new music on the way, group have also mapped out a run of 2023 tour dates, though none so far in Canada.
Check out the video for Squid's "Swing (In a Dream)" below, where you'll also see the album's tracklisting.
O Monolith:
1. Swing (In a Dream)
2. Devil's Den
3. Siphon Song
4. Undergrowth
5. The Blades
6. After the Flash
7. Green Light
8. If You Had Seen the Bull's Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away
