The Daily Spin, March 28
Squid | Bright Green Field
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Bright Green Field (2021)
Artist: Squid
Link:
Pitchfork lauded this album as a multi-genre adventure, pulling its weight as it clambers through krautrock, punk, emo, and any number of subgenres that all bleed together into one cohesive listening experience.
I disagree.
I think that it does do some things well - I think that it is a good example of krautrock, and for a debut album, there are some masterful plays at hand, evidence that there’s talented production behind the group’s efforts.
Where I think it falls short is that, too often, it just doesn’t come together at all. ‘Narrator’ is the most glaring example of this failure, an eight-minute odyssey to nowhere that feels like the lowlights of a Homerian epic. Supposedly, the tedious moments are references to a capitalist hell - and as much as I support anyone who makes light of the awful world we live in, it just does not land.
Rating: 6.4/10
Best Tracks: Paddling
Worst Tracks: Narrator