Squid

Taking their cue from experimental bands such as Neu! and This Heat, the British post-punk band Squid formed in 2016 in Brighton, England. The quintet began with Louis Borlase and Anton Pearson on guitars, Ollie Judge as the drummer and lead singer, Arthur Leadbetter on keyboards, and Laurie Nankivell on bass. Before the end of the year, they self-released their first single, “Perfect Teeth”. They amassed enough material to issue their debut EP, LINO, in 2017. Their rhythmic guitar-based sound got them signed to Speedy Wunderground which issued their 2019 EP Town Centre. That release, along with numerous festival appearances, increased their ever-increasing buzz. They signed to Warp for the 2020 EP Natural Resources, and in 2021 they issued three singles, the ambitiously long “Narrator”, “Paddling”, and “Pamphlets” in advance of their debut LP, Bright Green Field, which came out in May of that year to strong reviews from the NME and many other outlets who praised the band’s singular combination of post-punk, indie-rock, and new wave influences into a foreboding propulsive sound. The celebrated album went to number four on the UK Albums Chart and assured Squid's status as one of the UK's brightest new voices in post-punk. They kept the momentum going on their second album O Monolith, released in June 2023 and propelled by lead single "Swing (In A Dream)" as well as subsequent singles "Undergrowth" and "The Blades." In 2025, the band looked to krautrock for their third album Cowards, released again on Warp Records.