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9 February 2023 10:28 AM

Squid announce new album and reveal first single

'O Monolith' is out on June 9

By Joe Goggins

Squid press shot, 2023
The band's first album went to number four in the UK. (Photo: Michelle Helena Janssen)

Squid have announced details of their second studio album, and unveiled the first single.

The Brighton indie rockers, now based in South London, will return with O Monolith on June 9, via Warp Records. The lead single, ‘Swing (In a Dream)’, is streaming now; you can see the video, directed by Yoonha Park, below.

O Monolith was produced by the band’s long-time collaborator Dan Carey, and follows on from 2021’s debut album Bright Green Field, which went in at number four on the UK album chart. You can see the full track listing for O Monolith below, as well as full details of a newly announced UK tour for October, which will take the band to Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and London.

They will play two shows in Bristol, where much of O Monolith came together in a variety of rehearsal rooms; they then decamped to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Wiltshire to record. Contributors to the album include Martha Skye Murphy, who also appeared on Bright Green Field, Roger Bolton and the vocal ensemble Shards. 

Speaking about ‘Swing (In a Dream)’, singer and drummer Ollie Judge said: “This was inspired by a dream I had about a painting called The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. In my dream I was in the painting but it was flooded and everything was floating away.” On the absurdist video, director Park added: “I was interested in exploring visual ideas from Where’s Waldo, Richard Scarry and Brueghel as a means to express anxieties about the climate crisis.”

Environmental concerns hang heavy over O Monolith as a whole. “There’s a running theme of the relation of people to the environment throughout,” said guitarist Louis Borlase. “There are allusions to the world we became so immersed in, environmental emergency, the role of domesticity, and the displacement you feel when you’re away for a long time.”

Squid – 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’

Squid, October 2023:

13 – Bristol, SWX

14 – Bristol, SWX

16 – Birmingham, Town Hall

17 – Leeds, O2 Academy Leeds

18 – Manchester, New Century Hall

21 – Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom

22 – Newcastle, Boiler Shop

November 2023:

1 – London, Troxy

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