The day after the release of their sophomore album, O Monolith, Squid set out on a series of intimate record store shows that led them to deliver a near perfect set in the Foundry. The Brighton five-piece have a sound that bends between and brings together a selection of genres, from prog to ambience or jazz to punk the band manage to stretch their musical muscles and show off impressive levels of musical talent in the studio and, even more impressively, translate that to their shows.
My only three criticisms of this show are extremely pedantic and come from the stage management at the gig rather than the music. Firstly, there seemed to be problems with the stage lighting as it left the heads of the front row under a bright spotlight, detracting from the gig’s atmosphere. The next two are of a similar vein, lead singer Ollie Judge does an impressive job of singing and drumming, a hard act even without the switches in time signature that the band employed, and yet most of the crowd couldn’t see him due to the low stage without a raised drum platform for him. Similarly, for a five-piece band it seemed like two of them were left out on stage, looking more like hired stage musicians than part of a band that have been playing together for years.
With a pedantic rant out of the way, I can now try to translate into words just how good these guys are. With most of them acting as multi-instrumentalists throughout the set, guitars, drums, bass, keys were all a standard throughout but then there was the element of brass horns and more niche percussion instruments that pushed these tracks onto another level live. The band were able to transition between songs seamlessly, using one or two of their instruments to drone on with ambient aspects that could have come straight off an Aphex Twin album whilst other members of the switch instruments in preparation for the next track.
Kicking off the set with a fast favourite from O Monolith, ‘Undergrowth’ that blended a beat that wouldn’t sound out of place on a 90s hip hop track with jazz and rock influences that are found all over the UK’s vibrant post-punk scene. Judge’s powerful post-punk vocals rising up in the chorus as the rest of the instruments maintain a tight grip on the rhythm and pulse of the song really showed off the pure talent on display and with the first song the crowd knew this gig would be immense.
Switching straight over into the softer beginning of ‘Devil’s Den’ brought attention to the astonishing work of guiarist Louis Borlase as he and Judge worked in harmony, until the explosive section where he full band jump in and out switching from orchestral to rock like it nothing, once again remaining as tight as the studio version.
At an album launch gig like this you might expect a straight run through of the new album, but Squid delivered a set that fused in some favourites from their debut ‘Bright Green Field’. G.S.K, Peel St. and Documentary Filmmaker both sent some heads rocking back and forth especially towards the back end of the latter as the band built the sound up and up to an explosion of their post-punk/prog-rock sound.
Closing out the set with a 10 minute long, almost entirely ambient track that built up and released tension over and over, evolving and developing as it continued. I was left in complete awe after watching who I consider to be some of the most skilled musicians I’ve seen play live.
