The UK art rock band get just a little more accessible (and embrace harpsichords) on their immersive third album, The world that Squid envision on third album “Cowards” looks a little bit like our own—but it’s just a little off. With songs inspired by books about cannibals and reflective of modern society’s seeming lack of self-awareness, it might just as easily be called Villains. But there’s an absurdity here that tints these vignettes in a strange light, bending reality just enough to put an even more absurd spin on human behaviour as they build some of their most dazzling musical arrangements around them. Ornate art-pop, minimalist-inspired new wave, buzzing post-punk and swirling psychedelia—it’s all part of Squid’s kaleidoscopic and twisted vision, perhaps a no less perilous world than the one we inhabit but frequently more interesting.
Squid hail from a London scene that tends to pride itself on musical complexity, but for their third album “Cowards“, guitarist Louis Borlase says “we were thinking of an album of great songwriting. Simple ideas that resonate in a very different way to “O Monolith”, which was dense and complex.” Right from the kaleidoscopic harpsichords that open the album, you can hear the difference. In trademark Squid fashion, “Cowards” still often sounds like a jam session between the Talking Heads, Slint, and King Crimson, but with a sweeter, lusher baroque pop side that suggests maybe some Zombies records were on their mood board this time too. It’s more accessible but still a twisty-turny journey, and it’s best moment is its eight-minute closing track, which builds and builds to the album’s most towering climax and then fades away.
Like the other key bands coming out of the scene that’s coalesced around the South London pub and music venue The Windmill, Squid’s used modern post-punk as a springboard to more experimental music, and on their third album they continue to delve further into sonically elaborate, textured art rock. That said, this one’s both more kinetic and frenetic than 2023’s “O Monolith“, and to my ears it’s also more consistently engaging. Highlights: “Cro-Magnon Man,” “Blood on the Boulders,” “Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence”
Squid frame “Cowards” as a series of “dark fairy tales” about cruelty and complicity, with songs that zoom in on specific characters and scenarios (including cult dynamics and cannibalism themes). The sound stays restless: knotty post-rock builds, sudden pivots, and vocals that lean into the grotesque to match the writing.
Critics liked how the album widens Squid’s scope while keeping their tension-heavy momentum intact
Written & Performed by Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, Anton Pearson
Published by BMG
The Fat Angel Sings 