Squid – Cowards

Squid emerge triumphant from the post-punk revival armed with familiar frantic vocals, motorik drums and driving bass, combined with expansive post-rock, electronica, folk and psych, akin to Tortoise, Sufjan Stevens and Warp labelmates Grizzly Bear. The result is exceptional. If there was any doubt before, then it's clear now: Squid have undeniably arrived. No wonder then, that Cowards is our album of the month.

The record ranges from the dulcimer sparkles and lurching bass of Crispy Skin, to the Slint-esque dark nursery rhyme of Fieldworks I and II, road-tested in a series of ‘socially-spaced’ gigs between lockdowns. The jazz, funk and prog experiments of debut Bright Green Field and 2023’s O Monolith are here too, honed to a fine point. 

There are parallels to Radiohead; indeed Squid have often felt like natural successors, and the spidery, menacing Blood on the Boulders is a perfect example. ‘All the houses in this country are built like shit’; these are drummer/vocalist Ollie Judge’s most forthright lyrics since 2019’s Houseplants. One can’t help but think of Radiohead’s most outspoken record, Hail to the Thief, similarly a distillation of their style after two albums of experimentation. Fat snare hits propel a relentless rock'n'roll crescendo accentuated by abstract, whining vocals reminiscent of Thom Yorke. 

Cowards is packed with surprising and electrifying moments. The low end of dubby excursion Showtime! hits with soundsystem force, perhaps the influence of the storied bass music culture in Bristol, where the band is now based. The finale, Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence), is a stunning surprise; a heady collaboration with Celtic vocal voyager Clarissa Connelly recalling Electrelane’s choral explorations on 2004's The Power Out. It sounds like nothing Squid has ever done before. Squid describe Cowards as a collection of nine stories concerning evil, but there is a tremendously uplifting finish to the music. Perhaps right and wrong are harder to define when you’re in deep.

Indeed, depth is exactly what's delivered on Cowards. There's nothing raw here; this is a band settling into their status as Britain’s new rock innovators. There seems little doubt that this will be their most influential record, and it feels reasonable to place them alongside the likes of Soft Machine, XTC and Spirit of Eden-era Talk Talk. Squid say this is the album they wish they started with; while that isn’t possible, Cowards certainly feels like a new beginning.

Listen to: Crispy Skin, Blood on the Boulders, Fieldworks I and II, Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence)