• News

• All

Apr 23, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Harrison Fishman

British experimental post-punk five-piece Squid released a new album, Cowards, in February via Warp. Now they have released a brand new single, “The Hearth and Circle Round Fire.” Listen below.

Vocalist and drummer Ollie Judge had this to say about the song in a press release: “‘The Hearth and Circle Round Fire’ is a punky tune that came together quite easily but we felt dissatisfied with that ease and decided to record it as a 15 minute jam, rip it apart and tape it back together. Lyrically, it was inspired by the dystopian worlds of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Kay Dick’s They, worlds which everyday people succumb to mass censorship and propaganda with only a small amount of people willing to fight against it.”

Read our recent My Firsts interview with Squid.

Read our rave review of Cowards.

Cowards was one of our favorite February albums.

Previously Squid released the album’s lead single, album opener “Crispy Skin,” via a music video. It was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they released its second single, “Building 650,” with an accompanying music video. “Cro-Magnon Man” was the album’s third single.

Cowards is Squid’s third album and the follow-up to 2023’s O Monolith and 2001’s debut album, Bright Green Field. Squid features Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson.

Cowards was recorded at Church Studios in Crouch End, London with Mercury prize winning producer Marta Salogni and Grace Banks. Longtime collaborator Dan Carey, who recorded the band’s first two albums, provided additional production. John McEntire (of Tortoise) mixed the album and Heba Kadry mastered it.

Of the new album, Borlase said in a previous press release: “We were thinking of an album of great songwriting. Simple ideas that resonate in a very different way to O Monolith, which was dense and complex.”

Judge added: “Touring fed into this record in a way that I didn’t initially realize. Every song has a specific place anchored to it, places that all five of us have visited together, like New York, Tokyo, and Eastern Europe.”

Read our 2021 interview with Squid.

Squid Tour Dates:

Sat. April 26 - London, UK @ Roundhouse
Wed. April 30 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
Thu. May 1 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
Sat. May 3 - San Jose, CA @ The Ritz *
Sun. May 4 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent *
Tue. May 6 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom *
Wed. May 7 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s *
Fri. May 9 - Saint Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
Sat. May 10 - Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s *
Sun. May 11 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
Tue. May 13 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall *
Wed. May 14 - Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar *
Fri. May 16 - Detroit, MI @ El Club *
Sat. May 17 - Toronto, ON @ The Opera House *
Mon. May 19 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
Tue. May 20 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts *
Wed. May 21 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
Fri. May 23 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw *

* = with FearDorian

Subscribe to Under the Radar’s print magazine.

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.