Squid - O Monolith
This record is for those with a sense of adventure. For those who like to soak up the scenery. O Monolith is music to experience, not to idly listen to.
By: Ian Ritchie
O Monolith embraces chaos, dystopia, life through cracked glasses, innovation, intrigue, wonder, anger, rage, and, yes, even occasionally, sweetness. Nothing is derivative here.
Everything is better on vinyl, and a record as intense, creative, and intriguing as this is best served up on a spinning platter with a set of speakers that wouldn't get you shamed by an avid audiophile. O Monolith is an album that needs to be expanded, not compressed.
The talented musicians from Brighton have created an intriguing and complex listening experience, one you won't hear on the radio any time soon.
These songs would best be placed in a scene of a series like Breaking Bad to add an angular intensity to a riveting scene. Said another way - the music is cinematic.
Although the lines between genres are increasingly blurred and mean different things to different people, monikers like art-rock or prog-rock are appropriate here. Across the album, little things on the left and right sides of the sound space fill out the music in fascinating ways.
Like a bustling downtown metropolis, a lot is going on all around. Even though monumental landmarks stand in your line of sight, exciting things are still happening across the street or down the alley if you care to look.
This record is for those with a sense of adventure. For those who like to soak up the scenery. Regardless, the sounds that make up O Monolith are expertly chosen and well-recorded. This is music to experience, not to idly listen to.
Photo cred: Holly Whitaker
O Monolith embraces chaos, dystopia, life through cracked glasses, innovation, intrigue, wonder, anger, rage, and, yes, even occasionally, sweetness. Nothing is derivative here. Elements of Portishead, Radiohead, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Sea and Cake all play a part here.
That said, the record is not just a wall of sound. Softer, prettier moments are allowed passage but are always tinged with dissonance in keeping with the overall theme. Each song is markedly different from the one that came before it, with different rhythms, sounds, and vocal arrangements invoking a different feeling from song to song.
But make no mistake - intensity and sonic exploration are the musical soup de jour. One of the more sophisticated elements of this record is the inclusion of orchestral instruments peppered throughout to add a bit of class, and with the trumpet, an ever so slight element of trip-hop. This is on full display during the song “Devil’s Den.” It is crucial moments like these that keep the record, as a whole, from being one-dimensional.
Although the lyrics are cryptic, there is an existential theme. Metaphors from the Salem witch trials;
"You're dead if you float / You're dead if you sink." The idea of being trapped in one's body or not wanting to be a part of the machine;
"Egonomic for the rest of my days / I'd rather melt away." "All those cameras from up high / They make you look grey."
Surveillance cameras? Lines like this are nicely dovetailed with the music's dystopian Brave New World feel. On “After The Flash,” we hear a person trying to find normalcy in a chaotic world, i.e., "parlor games and washing the dishes."
The lyrics fall on the dark side, but that side is something we all wrestle with, making O Monolith relatable and never focused on negativity. Instead, it's focused on confusion, struggle, and hope, which we all experience daily and throughout our lives. On the song, “Green Light,” the lyric; "What do you want? Well, I want you," Singer/Drummer Ollie Judge distills what we are looking for. Love amongst the chaos.
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. You won’t truly experience what a record sounds like by reading about it. However, if you have a sense of adventure and your eyebrows rise at the mention of experimental rock, intensity, and sonic exploration, you'll find the experience a satisfyingly wild ride.
