Squid collaborate with Tim Key and Paul Ewen to present new audiobook ‘Lessons’

Squid have teamed up with poet, comedian, and actor Tim Key to share an audio version of the Paul Ewen story ‘Lessons’, which appears in written form inside the vinyl sleeves of the band’s new album ‘O Monolith’.

The collaboration came about after the band became fans of Tim and Paul’s podcast ‘London Pub Reviews’, and subsequently reached out while recording their album to ask whether Paul would write a narrative accompaniment. Speaking about the partnership, Paul says: “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.”

Squid’s own Anton Pearson has written the audio’s accompanying music, which is available for free on their Bandcamp and YouTube. Of the project, Anton comments: “After reading and listening to Paul Ewen’s amazing work and talking to him, we found he had a great understanding of our work and exciting ideas for the project. He said he wanted to write a story about an out of touch geography teacher and it doesn’t get much more exciting that that! Similarly, Tim seems to have an amazing grasp of Paul’s humour and his delivery takes it to another level, as is the case on the pub reviews series. 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.”

Listen to the full ‘Lessons’ audiobook below.