O Monolith

Everything here has been given room to expand, songs drifting from dreamy ascension to full-blown rock revelation and back again. An album of immense power and conviction.

It appeals instantly with its impactful and unforgiving sonic palette, but feels much better when we delve in deeper and engage with the emotion of the words – and for that we must leave rationality at the door.

You can hear both elements jostling for precedence, the celebratory euphoria of live performance filtering through the doubts and uncertainties and complications of extended time in one’s own head. It’s the combination that’s so thrilling here, in a sound that swirls and envelopes and jitters but remains just out of reach, like the dream of a dream of a dream of life before.

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.

Undergrowth and The Blades showcase the band’s ability to juxtapose delicate melodies and introspective moments with bursts of raw energy, delivering a rich listening experience that defies expectations.

All of this adds up to another well-made record that evolved from Squid's origins.

No less inviting than their debut, while asserting its own identity at every corner, ‘O Monolith’ is a fine second album.

O Monolith is no less bold of palette - opener Swing (in A Dream) embraces taut post-punk chug, jazz trumpet and enveloping synths - but always follows a lucid, compelling logic. [Jul 2023, p.86]

O Monolith channels the shapeshifting patterns of Steve Reich and late-period Radiohead to fashion a kind of lush English pastoral that seethes and shimmers at every turn. [Jul 2023, p.34]

The band found the perfect balance of what they know and what they hope to become, making O Monolith a considered sophomore effort that proves Squid’s placement as one of the most exciting bands in years.

If Squid can make daring, experimental music sound as fun as this, then they will take some stopping.

If You Had Seen the Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away provides three distinct sonic variations in its first minute alone, and does not rest on its laurels from thereon out. It encapsulates O Monolith, and elevates it.

O Monolith raises bigger, more eternal questions about humanity’s relationship to nature, and Squid’s music becomes more open-ended while wrestling with them. This weaving quality means the music is unpredictable and often exhilarating, but the message is blurrier.

While it has plenty of memorable moments, paired with an unfettered desire to explore and innovate in the studio, it lacks the immediate throughline of its successor. It’s still Squid at their most experimental, but it has more bark than bite.