Squid have announced their second studio album, O Monolith. The project arrives in full on June 9th, while the first look at the record, “Swing (In a Dream),” is available to stream now.
Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson debuted as Squid with 2021’s Bright Green Field, and they began writing the music for their follow-up almost immediately, working out new songs on the road in support of their first LP.
“Without that tour, we wouldn’t have any of these tracks,” singer/drummer Judge said in a statement. “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% of O Monolith, mostly without lyrics.” Once the record was fleshed out, Squid recorded it at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios in Wiltshire, England with producer Dan Carey.
Pre-orders for O Monolith are ongoing. See the artwork and full tracklist below.
As its title suggests, “Swing (In a Dream)” has a dreamlike quality. A lot goes on in the track — synthesizers buzz, jagged guitar scratches away, and drums never cease — but the band’s moving parts take several minutes to coalesce, instead spending the beginning of the song toiling away amid an excess of empty space. The single was inspired by a dream of Judge’s involving Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s painting The Swing. “In my dream, I was in the painting but it was flooded and everything was floating away,” he explained. Listen to the track below.
Squid have a number of UK tour dates plotted for the rest of 2023. Check out the schedule below, and purchase tickets here.
O Monolith Artwork:
O Monolith Tracklist:
01. Swing (In a Dream)
02. Devil’s Den
03. Siphon Song
04. Undergrowth
05. The Blades
06. After the Flash
07. Green Light
08. If You Had Seen the Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away
Squid 2023 Tour Dates:
05/05 — Wrexhman, WS @ Focus Wales
06/18 — Wicklow, IE @ Beyond The Pale
06/30 — Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter
07/02 — Lars, DE @ Fusion
07/21 — Hertfordshire, UK @ Standon Calling
07/22 — Oxfordshire, UK @ Truck Festival
08/16 — Portugal, ES @ Paredes De Coura
08/18 — Brecon, WS @ Green Man
09/02 — Vlieland, NL @ Into The Great Wide Open
10/13 — Bristol, UK @ SWX
10/14 — Bristol, UK @ SWX
10/16 — Birmingham, UK @ Town Hall
10/17 — Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy Leeds
10/19 — Manchester, UK @ New Century
10/21 — Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom
10/22 — Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
11/01 — London, UK @ Troxy