This was another gig like the recent DMA’S at the Crescent in York, with help from Crash Records in Leeds, where fans could purchase some niftily priced ticket packages for intimate shows when they bought the new album. So, the large room was full of full-on Squid fans. Given that the band can now sell out places like the Academy in Leeds, this is a small and intimate show. OK, I know that the October O2 Academy Leeds show probably hasn’t sold out just yet, but I am confident that it will. I think it is hard to beat seeing a great band in a great grassroots venue such as the Brudenell. This was my first opportunity to see the classy Brighton five-piece in action and like the partisan crowd I was looking forward to it with great expectation and excitement. The show began with an almost eerie, drone-like orchestral piece of music washing slowly over the stage like an audio version of the first sign of sea mist in John Carpenter’s ‘The Fog’. It was a sound that set the scene perfectly for the band to saunter onto the stage and take up their positions.
The gig was mostly about showcasing their highly acclaimed new album ‘O Monolith’ released just a few days before this appearance. The band has previously stated that this album was influenced by These New Puritans and Talk Talk among others, I can see those influences, but I can hear so much more in their deep, dark, sometimes jarring, tones and melodies. They opened with the second single from ‘O Monolith’, the epic, stygian bass-driven “Undergrowth”. If Donny McCaslin had ever worked with Talking Heads and employed Stanley Clarke on bass, it might have gone some way toward achieving what this track does. Next up was the slightly softer, for at least a part, “Devil’s Den”, intentionally or otherwise I can hear Thom Yorke at his most left field here. Next, the band rolled into “G.S.K.” from their 2021 debut album ‘Bright Green Field’, it is not a song about the pharmaceutical giant, but a reflection on a journey from Bristol to London that flows past a large building occupied by Glaxo Smith Kline. It has a complex jazz feel in its construction, the song, not the building, and synth-style sounds that evoke late 70s Giorgio Moroder. Instrumentally “After The Flash” feels like a warped outtake from Bowie’s epitaph, ‘Black Star’ although Ollie Judge’s vocals are from a vibrant parallel universe.
My highlight was probably “If You Had Seen The Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away”, which is also perhaps my favourite song title in a long while. I can see the Mark Hollis influence here, with perhaps a dash of Radiohead, a pinch of 60s muzak, and a whole packet of Squid. I think it would make a great addition to a horror film co-directed by Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick. Speaking of films, a perfectly performed “Documentary Filmmaker” was next, a great track from the band’s first album, which was enhanced in a wonderful way. The sadly, short set closed with “Swing (In A Dream)” the magnificent opening track and first single from ‘O Monolith’, every one of the band was on top form for this and the emotion of Judge’s vocals is matched by how the music twists and turns with mood swings of its own. This was a staggeringly good set from a great band, bring on the October tour!
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