Bright Green Field is a sublime debut album that showcases Squid’s fearlessness and explosive energy to a T

It’s funny how music discovery works. I’ve been a fan of Squid’s music for a few months now, but it took Spotify’s algorithm to remind me that their highly anticipated debut Bright Green Field had been out for about a month. “Narrator” featuring Martha Skye Murphy was my first introduction to this exceptional new album, and I was immediately sucked into their weird and wonderful music.

Squid are a London-based post-punk band, originally from Brighton. Explosive, experimental and utterly breathtaking, their music encompasses a fast array of sounds and genres, perfectly brought together by their tight-knit chemistry – each member excels in their own unique and important way, and their knack for creating a sound that is genre-bending and quite engaging and fun. Tracks like “G.S.K” are exemplary, capturing this dynamic and infectiously funky groove that is just so hypnotising and sets the album up for quite an auditory experience. I mentioned “Narrator”, a frantic and dynamic track, with wailing guitars, drumming and subtle but poignant wind instrumentation that swirl in between the cacophony of Ollie Judge’s leading vocals, Laurie Nankivell’s incredible and dominant basslines, and Martha Skye Murphy’s powerful vocals. It’s a true testament to their incredible musicianship, and this dynamic, eclectic and almost angry sound is reverberated throughout the entire album. “Boy Racers” features incredible guitar riffs and drumming, before it delves into this synth-heavy, overpowering electronic piece that is almost unsettling. “Paddling” starts slow, with 80s inspired synth leads and space-like sounds, before turning into this playful and idiosyncratic groove, before exploding into heavy guitar riffs, drumming and vocals. I’ve been listening to This Heat quite a lot recently, and though I don’t usually like to draw comparisons because they’re unique in their own way, but their penchant for not abiding by traditional compositional rules makes their music all the more exciting to listen to. There are so many other incredible moments on the album such as “2010” and “Global Groove”, as well as the crazy closer “Pamphlets.” The guitar arpeggios and tones throughout, complemented by the crazy drumming and vocal performances make for such a terrific listen. They bring punk, jazz, electronic and experimental music together in a beautiful marriage that works absolutely perfectly. I can’t begin to express how excited I am for this band, and I can assure you, I will be having this album on repeat for quite a while.

I love this band so much. Their expressive and dynamic compositions are so odd at times, yet the grooves and melodies they’re able to put together make for such a fun and engaging listen. Bright Green Field is a sublime debut album that showcases Squid’s fearlessness and explosive energy to a T. Amazing project, definitely recommend you go support!