O Monolith
A brilliant shift from urban panic to rural mysticism, blending sharp post-punk rhythms with woodwinds, choral arrangements, and deep dynamic shifts.
A brilliant shift from urban panic to rural mysticism, blending sharp post-punk rhythms with woodwinds, choral arrangements, and deep dynamic shifts.
Pastoral departure
Woodwind reeds and choral hums now crowd the spaces where jagged concrete and city noise used to rattle. After building their name on the frantic, claustrophobic panic of the streets, this record steps into the damp, unpredictable quiet of the English countryside. You can feel the damp soil underfoot as the band trades their relentless, driving post-punk sprint for folklore and strange, shifting shadows. The guitars still bite, but they share the air with brass and folklore, turning their nervous energy inward. It is the sound of a band slowing down just enough to let the wilderness creep in.
It runs a touch cooler and more held-back than this artist's baseline.
Critics warmly welcomed the album as a thoughtful evolution of the band's sound, widely praising how it harmonizes quiet, contemplative moments with vibrant, unpredictable surges of experimental energy. Reviewers also admired the rich, collaborative production, finding that the music's striking contrasts and shifting moods offer an inviting and deeply engaging experience.
“It’s still Squid at their most experimental, but it has more bark than bite”Read review
“Squid follow up 2020’s Bright Green Field with a tighter, leaner, more refined version of their signature melding of sonic chaos and compositional ambition”Read review
“Bolstered by a newfound sense of self-confidence and appreciation for melody, the five-piece’s more experimental second album reveals more of itself with each enchanting listen”Read review
“The post-punks’ second album juxtaposes delicate melodies and introspective moments with bursts of raw energy”Read review
“Monolith, like Field, is stylistically far-ranging, the band as adept as ever when it comes to working with polarities, including cohesion/dissolution, maximalism/minimalism, and ecstasy/dejection”Read review
“No less inviting than their debut, while asserting its own identity at every corner, ‘O Monolith’ is a fine second album”Read review
“The bending of time and place and sights and sounds across this record leaves the listener with plenty to digest and a lot to be excited for with what’s to come from Squid”Read review
“The English band’s second album explores big questions with a bucolic, open-ended new sound. Where once they surged forward, now they wander”Read review
“Reprising her collaboration from their debut is singer Martha Skye Murphy, along with new foils Roger Bolton (Real World’s resident technologist) and Tortoise’s John McEntire, who mixed the album. All of this adds up to another well-made record that evolved from Squid’s origins”Read review
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