Squid - 'Fugue (bin song)'
When Squid released their second record ‘O Monolith’, fan-favourite track ‘Fugue (Bin Song) didn’t make the cut. Luckily for us, it’s here in single form.
Squid, the Brighton post-punkers, have a history of leaving incredible tracks off their records. An earlier single ‘The Cleaner’, along with this new release, stand alone in their catalogue. As ‘Bright Green Field’ and ‘O Monolith’ were so complete, the sound-world as calculated and raucous as the musicianship, it figures that some tracks would remain singles. With the band due to set off on a North American tour next month, what better time to release such a wrecking-ball of a single?
The opening, filled with incessant guitars and cello instantly put this in ‘In Rainbows’ territory. Once the drums enter the theme continues, the band’s musical prowess providing a metronomic intensity. The production is neat without losing its edge, there is a clarity and depth that marries perfectly with Squid’s sound.
“Do you look for clues on the street / on garage doors or on a bin?” sings Ollie Judge, the band’s vocalist and drummer, backed by an ascending and intensifying arrangement. At the halfway point, there is a break in the chaos as Squid flex their textural muscles with delicate basslines and spacious guitars.
The chaos builds once more, the guitars descending into a fuzzy frenzy before halting as Judge sings “don’t feed the bin and don’t feed me with your false ideas”. The drums continue to punch like the band are bracing for battle, building to a furious close as the lyrics “not yet upset, not yet” are repeated, more and more maniacally.
Squid are carving a truly unique space for themselves in the British post-punk landscape, with sharp lyrical imagery and some of the most dizzyingly satisfying instrumentals in recent memory. ‘Album off-cuts’ such as this prove that there’s no shortage of tracks in their armoury. What’s most exciting is how endless that armoury appears to be.
Words by Joe Boon
