Following the huge acclaim that met their intense smash hit ‘The Dial’, Squid have returned once again, bringing with them a ferocious new single with the delightfully domesticated title ‘Houseplants’. It precedes what is set to be a momentous 2019 for the group, with a slew of live dates around the world planned for the upcoming months.
‘Houseplants’ transcends any sense of traditional pop structure for more devious shithousery and intelligent tongue-in-cheek than even ‘The Dial’ managed to fork out. Thick waves of muted guitar, swelling percussion and coruscating trumpet rave uninterrupted as Ollie Judge releases everything within his mind in an unrestrained scream.
What at first comes across as the overwhelmed notions of a human at the edge of either extreme, is actually a much more nuanced perception on a foreboding reality of the modern age, in particular the more and more likely it is that our generation will never be able to buy a house and “find fulfilment” in the age of corrupt capitalism without driving ourselves into physical and emotional exhaustion. It’s another example of Squid’s frightfully exciting progress as a group – intelligent, intrinsic and vital.
Catch Squid live at the dates below:
11 – 17/03 – SXSW
29/03 – AMP (Annie Mac Presents) – Shacklewell Arms, London
03/04 – Bird On The Wire 10th Anniversary – Studio 9294, London
04/05 – Live At Leeds festival
05/05 – Caring Is Creepy, Margate
10 – 12/05 – The Great Escape, Brighton
02/06 – Get Loud In Libraries – Birkenhead Library w/Our Girl
06/07 – Electric Fields, Scotland
19 – 21/07 – Bluedot, Jodrell Bank
02/08 – Neverworld, Kent
03/08 – Three Wheel Drive Festival, Andover
15 – 18/08t – Green Man festival, Wales
30 – 31/08 – Knee Deep Festival, Cornwall
29/08 – 01/09 – End of The Road Festival
We’ve added ‘Houseplants’ to The So Young List on Spotify. You can find it here.
Header photo by Matilda Hill-Jenkins