Bright Green Field: Limited Glow In The Dark Vinyl LP Squid

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 monolithic concrete buildings and dystopian visions plucked from imagined cities. Squid’s music – be it agitated and discordant or groove-locked and flowing – has often been a reflection of the tumultuous world we live in and this continues that to some extent. “This album has created an imaginary cityscape,” says Ollie Judge, who writes the majority of the lyrics and plays drums. “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.”
These themes were further embedded and emphasised, almost serendipitously, as Judge began to read more. “Reading Douglas Coupland’s view that we’re living in the “Extreme Present” as well as Mark Fisher and Merlin Coverley’s writings on Hauntology and the slow cancellation of the future made me realise we’ve been living in a dystopian and futurist landscape for a long time.” 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.