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Squid have shared their latest single ‘Building 650’ and announced a string of UK headline shows for 2025.
The art-rock band are preparing to release their third studio album ‘Cowards’ via Warp Records on February 7 (pre-order here) and have already shared the lead single ‘Crispy Skin’.
Now, they have released a second single, the bright and colourful ‘Building 650’, which frontman Ollie Judge has said was inspired “by our first ever trip to Japan”. Check out the video, directed by Felix Geen, Daisuke Hasegawa and Kuya Tatsujo, here:
“On the plane I read In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murikami and watched Lost in Translation out of excitement and later decided to write lyrics about being an outsider visiting Japan, including a very particular type of loneliness one can feel visiting a country that is so different from their own. This loneliness feels exaggerated in Tokyo, on the surface it’s hectic and full of people but when you listen, it’s eerily quiet.”
According to a press release, ‘Cowards’ will explore “nine stories where protagonists reckon with cults, charisma and apathy – with the band exploring the divide between right and wrong.” It sees the band continue to push their musical boundaries, exploring folk, kosmische, psychedelia, jazz and electronics.
In addition, the band have announced a string of UK headline dates to take place from February to April this year, kicking off at Liverpool’s Invisible Wind Factory on February 17 and wrapping at London’s Roundhouse on April 26. See the full list of dates below and find your tickets here.
FEBRUARY
17 – Liverpool, Invisible Wind Factory
18 – Manchester, O2 Ritz
19 – Glasgow, Old Fruitmarket
21 – Newcastle, NSU Domain
22 – Sheffield, Leadmill
24 – Cambridge, Junction 1
25 – Norwich, The Adrian Flux Waterfront
27 – Oxford, O2 Academy
28 – Southampton, Engine Rooms
MARCH
1 – Margate, Lido
2 – Brighton, Chalk
4 – Birmingham, XOYO
5 – Bristol, Beacon
APRIL
26 – London, Roundhouse
‘Cowards’ was recorded at Church Studios in Crouch End with Mercury Prize-winning producer Marta Salogni and Grace Banks. It also comes produced by Dan Carey, who also recorded the band’s first two albums.
Mixed in Seattle and mastered in New York, contributions to the record also come from Danish experimental songsmith Clarissa Connelly, Tony Njoku (composer, pianist and singer), Rosa Brook from punk group Pozi, Zands Duggan (percussion), and Jonny Greenwood collaborators the Ruisi Quartet for violin, viola and cello.
It has been named by NME as one of the most anticipated album releases of 2025.
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The cause of death of Liam Payne has been confirmed by a doctor at a new UK inquest as “polytrauma”.
The former One Direction star died on October 16 last year, after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. The Argentinian prosecutor’s office shared at the time that the cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.
Now, at a hearing at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court, it was confirmed by Dr. Roberto Victor Cohen that the death was the result of “polytrauma”, which refers to multiple traumatic injuries sustained by a body’s organ systems (via BBC).
The inquest into Payne’s death has been told that it may still take “some time” to fully ascertain how the 31-year-old died, with the hearing now adjourned until later in 2025.
Senior Coroner Crispin Butler said: “Whilst there are ongoing investigations in Argentina into the circumstances of Liam’s death, over which I have no legal jurisdiction, it is anticipated that procuring the relevant information to address particularly how Liam came by his death may take some time through the formal channel of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.”
Five people have been charged in Argentina over the death: Payne’s friend Roger Nores, CasaSur Palermo hotel manager Gilda Martin, reception head Esteban Grassi, Ezequiel Pereyra and Braian Paiz.
Wrongful death charges were made against Nores, Martin and Grassi, with the judge noting: “I do not believe that [Nores, Martin, and Grassi] planned and wanted Payne’s death. They did not plan the result but created a legally disapproved risk.”
The judge in Argentina, Laura Bruniard, also declared that the singer jumped off his hotel balcony in an attempt to escape the building while in a drugged state.
“Payne’s consciousness was altered and a balcony was in the room. The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place, and with company, until a doctor arrived,” she wrote, adding that the hotel employees who had taken him back to his room “did not act maliciously” but were “imprudent” in their actions.
She continued: “I maintain that [Payne] tried to leave from the balcony of the place where he was left because the forensic experts noted that he did not lose his balance. This is how the fall occurred.”
An earlier report in November from the National Crime and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14 revealed that Payne’s toxicology results showed that cocaine, alcohol and antidepressants were all in his system at the time of his death.
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