Squid - Bright Green Field (2021)

Latest stars from the burgeoning Brixton Windmill scene Squid release one of 2021’s most highly anticipated albums – their debut album Bright Green Field on Warp.

Bright Green Field was produced by Dan Carey (Speedy Wunderground).

Formed in Brighton, Squid is the brainchild of Louis Borlase (guitars and vocals), Ollie Judge (lead vocals and drums), Arthur Leadbetter (keyboards, percussion and strings), Laurie Nankivell (bass and brass) and Anton Pearson (guitars and vocals).

Bright Green Field is an album of towering scope and ambition, it is deeply considered, paced and intricately constructed. With all band members playing such a vital and equal role, this album is very much the product of five heads operating as one.

However, for all the innovative recording techniques, evolutionary leaps, lyrical themes, ideas and narratives that underpin the album, it’s also a joyous and emphatic record. One, that marries the uncertainties of the world with a curious sense of exploration, as it endlessly twists and turns down unpredictable avenues.

Whilst the album title conjures up imagery of pastoral England, in reality, it’s something of a decoy that captures the band’s fondness for paradox and juxtaposition. Within the geography of Bright Green Field lies dystopian visions and monolithic concrete buildings plucked from imagined cities.

“This album has created an imaginary cityscape,” says Ollie Judge, who writes the majority of the lyrics. “The tracks illustrate the places, events and architecture that exist within it. Previous projects were playful and concerned with characters, whereas this project is darker and more concerned with place – the emotional depth of the music has deepened.”

Bright Green Field features Lewis Evans from Black Country, New Road, Martha Skye Murphy and Emma-Jean Thackray as well as a distorted choir of 30 voices and a horn and string ensemble.

In line with their ‘New Weird Britain’ contemporaries, Squid have an ambitious masterpiece on their hands with Bright Green Field, a triumphant display of unique talent.