ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Squid

Squid is Louis Borlase, Oliver Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson // Photo by Holly Whitaker

As venues open back up and tours are getting announced again, I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to see some live music from bands I’ve never seen before. One band in particular I’m looking forward to seeing for the first time is Squid, a band made up of Louis Borlase, Oliver Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson, with a sound that fuses everything from post-punk to jazz into a fluid genre of its own. Formed in 2015 in Brighton and now based in London, Squid released their debut record titled Bright Green Field on May 7th this year, following up a handful of singles and EPs.

Bright Green Field opens with the ambient 40-second blip titled “Resolution Square” that fades seamlessly into “G.S.K.”— an upbeat track that features abrasive, punchy vocals layered over a brass-infused groove. In just the first few minutes of the debut album, it’s easy to identify the admiration for ambient and jazz music that brought the band members together initially during their years at University, but their fluid sound winds itself throughout the entire 55-minute long album.

Squid is a band who simultaneously blends unexpected sounds together and blurs the boundaries on defined band roles by having everyone wear multiple hats and make an array of contributions. They describe their unique process best by saying that the record is a product of five heads operating as one. “We’re all going through different phases of our life as a band and as individuals so that contributes to the eclecticism which is inherent in what we do,” Pearson elaborates.

Being keen on collaboration within the group also transferred into having several guest performers come in for the recording of Bright Green Field. In addition to having orchestral and jazz musicians like Black Country, New Road’s Lewis Evans on saxophone and multi instrumentalist jazz musician Emma-Jean Thackray join in, Squid recorded about 30 of their friends voices and collated them all to form a distorted and layered choir of their own.

Make sure to snag your own copy of Bright Green Field here, and keep up with Squid’s upcoming tour dates on their Facebook.