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May 25, 2023 By Mark Redfern

British experimental post-punk five-piece Squid are releasing a new album, O Monolith, on June 9 via Warp. Now they have shared its third single, “The Blades,” via a music video. Kasper Häggström (Radiohead, Kelly Lee Owens, Lindstrøm) directed the video, which stars British actress Charlotte Ritchie (of the original UK version of TV’s Ghosts) as she’s stuck in a Kafkaesque nightmare. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Squid drummer/vocalist Ollie Judge had this to say about the new single in a press release: “It’s a lot more vulnerable than stuff we’ve previously done, which can be quite a daunting thing. Dan [Carey] and I were talking about vocal delivery and how it would be good to not completely let myself go, and not fall back on shouting because it’s more instantly gratifying. The end of the song is really soft and tender and I don’t think we’ve done something like that before. On the surface it’s a song about police brutality with the last section kind of inspired by The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, although I’ve never read the book, I’ve just seen The Simpsons’ spoof of it. Narratively it follows a police helicopter pilot’s day, ending with him in bed hearing another pilot circling the skies as if he were taunting him. There’s a deeper meaning in there somewhere of my fear of ego, but I’m still working out which bit of the song that’s coming from.”

Previously Squid shared the album’s first single, album opener “Swing (In a Dream),” via a music video. Then they shared its second single, “Undergrowth,” as well as an accompanying video game. “Undergrowth” was one of our Songs of the Week. They also announced some new 2024 North American tour dates. O Monolith is the band’s sophomore full-length and follows 2001’s debut album, Bright Green Field.

Squid features Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson. Long-time collaborator Dan Carey produced O Monolith, which was mixed by John McEntire (of Tortoise).

Squid started working on O Monolith just two weeks following Bright Green Field’s release. At the time the band was on tour, playing seated and socially distanced shows, as the pandemic was still very much a factor. On that tour they tested out some new material. “Without that tour we wouldn’t have any of these tracks,” said Judge in a previous press release. “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.”

Of the themes on the album, Borlase said: “There’s a running theme of the relation of people to the environment throughout. 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.”

Read our 2021 interview with Squid.

Squid Tour Dates:

Sat. June 10 - Brighton, UK @ Resident - instore
Sun. June 11 - Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade - instore
Mon. June 12 - Totnes, UK @ The Barrel House - Drift Records outstore
Tue. June 13 - Sheffield, UK @ Foundry Studio - Bear Tree Records outstore
Thu. June 14 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club - Crash Records outstore
Thu. June 15 - London, UK @ Rough Trade East - instore (early & late)
Fri. June 16 - Sun. June 18 - Wicklow, IE @ Beyond The Pale
Fri. June 30 - Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter
Sun. July 2 - Lars, DE @ Fusion
Fri. July 21 - Hertfordshire, UK @ Standon Calling
Sat. July 22 - Oxfordshire, UK @ Truck Festival
Sat. Aug. 12 - Cornwall, UK @ Boardmasters
Wed. Aug. 16 - Portugal, ES @ Paredes De Coura
Fri. Aug. 18 - Brecon, WS @ Green Man
Fri. Aug. 24 - Torremolinos, ES @ Canela Party
Sat. Aug. 25 - La Tour-de-Peliz, CH @ Nox Orae
Sat. Sep. 2 - Vlieland, NL @ Into The Great Wide Open
Tue. Sep. 5 - Cologne, DE @ Katine
Wed. Sep. 6 - Esch-sur-Alzette, LU @ Rockhal
Thu. Sep. 7 - Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
Fri. Sep. 8 - Utecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg ROnda
Sat. Sep. 9 - Hamburg, DE @ Knust
Mon. Sep. 11 - Aarhus, DK @ Voxhall
Tue. Sep. 12 - Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
Wed. Sep. 13 - Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Fri. Sep. 15 - Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
Sat. Sep. 16 - Zurich, CH @ Mascotte
Sun. Sep. 17 - Tronto, IT @ Poplar Festival
Tue. Sep. 19 - Milan, IT @ Santeria
Thu. Sep. 21 - Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apollo 2
Fri. Sep. 22 - Valencia, ES @ Jerusalem
Sat. Sep. 23 - Madrid, ES @ Sala Copérnico
Sun. Sep. 24 - Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey
Mon. Sep. 25 - Paris, FR @ Elysée Montmartre
Wed. Sep. 27 - Rouen, FR @ Le 106
Fri. Oct. 13 - Bristol, UK @ SWX
Sat. Oct. 14 - Bristol, UK @ SWX
Mon. Oct. 16 - Birmingham, UK @ Town Hall
Tue. Oct. 17 - Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy Leeds
Thu. Oct. 19 - Manchester, UK @ New Century
Sat. Oct. 21 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom
Sun. Oct. 22 - Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
Wed. Nov. 1 - London, UK @ Troxy
Sat. Nov. 4 - Reykjavik, IS @ Iceland Airwaves
Fri. Feb. 2 - Austin, TX @ The Parish
Sat. Feb. 3 - Dallas, TX @ Dada
Mon. Feb. 5 - Nashville, TN @ Basement East
Tue. Feb. 6 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Thu. Feb. 8 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Fri. Feb. 9 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Sat. Feb. 10 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Wed. Feb. 14 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Thu. Feb. 15 - Montreal, QC @ SAT
Fri. Feb. 16 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
Sun. Feb. 18 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Mon. Feb. 19 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Fri. Feb. 23 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Sat. Feb. 24 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Sun. Feb. 25 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Tue. Feb. 27 - San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
Thu. Feb. 29 - Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
Fri. March 1 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco

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