Squid

Squid have come a long way since forming in 2016 as an instrumental jazz band for a monthly night in Brighton whilst living in cheap rented accommodation across the Sussex coast as they finished their studies. The band started expressing influences from outsider punk to Fourth World, and became known for their chaotic and increasingly incendiary live shows. The band relocated to London to make the most of their burgeoning reputation, and having heard them at the Brixton institution The Windmill, producer Dan Carey invited them to his studio; releasing a string of fine singles on Speedy Wunderground and the Town Centre EP (2019) which cemented their reputation. An album deal with visionary label Warp followed, and the hype grew further.

Their debut album Bright Green Field (2021) arrived as the world was starting to open up after the pandemic and they broke into the top 5 in the UK chart. In 2023 they released their sophomore album, the brooding O Monolith, which took the band all over the world and broke new ground that hardly seemed possible five years prior. Like the bravest sophomore albums, O Monolith charted a trajectory beyond their breakthrough sound, taking the band towards an experimental career ahead. Fans growing with them, disseminated alternative versions of songs and demos in setlists and NTS sessions.

Now on their third album, Cowards, the English art rock quintet extend and explore textures of folk, kosmische, psychedelia, jazz and electronics – hovering at 30,000 feet above distinct tales of human evil: apophenia-tinged songs punched by vantablack comedy.

Squid are Louis Borlase, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell ,Anton Pearson and Ollie Judge.