Squid share audiobook counterpart to their album O Monolith

The band enlisted English poet, comedian and actor Tim Key to record the audio of the Paul Ewen story Lessons which fans will have found in pamphlet form inside their vinyl copies of their new album O Monolith. Anton Pearson from the band has written the accompanying music for the audio which is available via Squid’s Bandcamp.

The band are huge admirers of Key and Ewen’s podcast, London Pub Reviews, and during the recording sessions for O Monolith, reached out to Ewen asking if he’d consider writing a narrative accompaniment to the record in that vein. On receiving the story it felt only right to see if Key might be up for bringing it to life.

Speaking of how the audiobook came to life, Pearson says: “John Fahey’s story insert to his 1967 album The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, inspired the project, and after reading and listening to Paul Ewen’s amazing work (London Pub Reviews, How to be a Public Author) and talking to him, we found he had a great understanding of our work and exciting ideas for the project."

"It was fun writing some music for the audiobook, I used stems from the album for some of it and built other bits from scratch. I hope people enjoy listening to the audiobook and can pick up on a few themes from O Monolith running through it," he continues.

Ewen said of the collaboration: “It’s one of the best collaborations I’ve ever had. O Monolith is both brilliant and wonderful, and it’s been a privilege to add some not-so-serious storytelling about serious issues to this seriously good album.”