‘Paddling’ is the latest to foreshadow Squid’s multi-faceted, hotly anticipated debut album, out later this year. It is also the only track on the album conceived – very much literally – in the band’s infancy. “It’s the only piece of music on the album that we started writing when we were but kids still living in Brighton!”, the band say of ‘Paddling’. The track has since become not only an integral part of Squid’s incendiary live shows, but also a vital element of their upcoming debut ‘Bright Green Field’, transforming and metamorphosing with Squid’s characteristic mercurial nature throughout this time.
The track itself is a psych-motorik behemoth, traversing dynamic movements with the sheer lisearing intensity is then amplified via duelling, caustic guitars which build with an elusive, teetering-onto-collapsing energy, while a pulsing synth line grabs the ears equally ferociously. On this irresistible pairing, the band elaborates saying that producer Dan Carey’s “modular synthesizer is definitely the sixth band member in this one, turning Louis and Anton’s guitars into racecars from about the 5-minute mark.”
The track is a “…reaction to being thrust into an adult world as friends suddenly turn their focus to careers.” Discussing this unravelling narrative, the band says:
“Written from two different perspectives, ‘Paddling’ is a song about the dichotomy between simple pleasures and decadent consumerism. Recounting a familiar scene from Wind in the Willows, the song reminds us that although we are humans, we are ultimately animals that are driven by both modern and primal instincts, leading to vanity and machismo around us in the everyday.”
In this grandiose, brisk, emphatically spontaneous outing, several band members offer their vocals to deal with this topic, furthering the fresh energy of the track – even for a band that has already shown vast levels of experimentation – as the respective vocals parry one another in a complimentary but distinctive manner.
See the visualiser for ‘Paddling’ here.
‘Bright Green Field’ is out May 7th on Warp Records – featuring production from Dan Carey, innovative recording techniques, a distorted choir of 30 voices, as well as a horn and string ensemble featuring the likes of, Emma-Jean Thackray and Lewis Evans from Black Country, New Road, in tandem with a joyous aura intertwined with the curious sense of exploration and unpredictability which Squid embody.
Pre-order here.
See the remaining tickets for Squid’s EU/UK live shows here.
LDOI 