• News

• All

Jan 27, 2021 By Mark Redfern Squid

Brighton, England-based five-piece Squid have announced their debut album, Bright Green Field, and shared its eight-minute long first single, “Narrator” (which features Martha Skye Murphy), via a video for the song. Bright Green Field is due out May 7 via Warp. Check out “Narrator” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art.

The band features Ollie Judge (drums, lead vocals), Louis Borlase (guitars, vocals), Arthur Leadbetter (keyboards, strings), Laurie Nankivell (bass, brass), and Anton Pearson (guitars, vocals). Dan Carey produced the album.

Judge writes most of the band’s lyrics and had this to say in a press release: “This album has created an imaginary cityscape. The tracks illustrate the places, events and architecture that exist within it. Previous releases were playful and concerned with characters, whereas this album is darker and more concerned with place—the emotional depth of the music has deepened.”

The band collectively had this to say about the new single: “‘Narrator’ was inspired by the 2019 film A Long Day’s Journey Into Night. The song follows a man who is losing the distinction between memory, dream and reality and how you can often mold your memories of people to fit a narrative that benefits your ego. Martha Skye-Murphy made the point that the unreliable narrator is, more often than not, a male who wishes to portray women as submissive characters in their story. After some discussions with Martha she thought it’d be a good idea that she play the part of the woman wanting to break free from the dominating story the male has set.”

Felix Green directed the “Narrator” video and had this to say: “I had wanted to make a video about the virtual creation process for some time. I often think this ‘behind the digital curtain’ part of 3D design looks more interesting than the final finished product since it conveys a process and an authorship. When I was approached to pitch on ‘Narrator’ I immediately thought it could be the perfect match for this very visual idea.”

In 2019 Squid released the Town Centre EP via Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground. Previously Squid shared the EP’s seven-and-a-half minutes long “The Cleaner,” which was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared another song from Town Centre, “Match Bet,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. Last year Squid shared two new songs: “Sludge” (which was one of our Songs of the Week) and “Broadcaster.”

Bright Green Field Tracklist:

1. Resolution Square
2. G.S.K
3. Narrator feat. Martha Skye Murphy
4. Boy Racers
5. Paddling
6. Documentary Filmmaker
7. 2010
8. The Flyover
9. Peel St
10. Global Groove
11. Pamphlets

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.