English art-rock quintet Squid has announced their new album, Cowards, out February 7th via Warp Records and shared its lead single, “Crispy Skin.” Now on their third album, the band — Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson — branch out, exploring textures of folk, kosmische, psychedelia, jazz and electronic music. Cowards features nine distinct tales of human evil punched by vantablack comedy.
On album opener “Crispy Skin,” a fluttering of synths are quickly met by a driving rhythm section beneath a tense and paranoid Judge, before acoustic piano is introduced to the mix. “‘Crispy Skin’ was lyrically inspired by a dystopian novel Tender Is The Flesh I read where cannibalism becomes the societal norm and humans are manufactured and sold in supermarkets. I think when most people read books like these they picture themselves as the sort of person that would take the moral high-ground within these narratives. The track was written about how the reality of having a moral-compass in these stories of desperation and horror would be extremely difficult.” Judge continues and admits, “if I was actually in that world, I probably would be the coward in this instance.”
The accompanying video, directed by Takashi Ito, is an adaptation of his award-winning experimental 1995 short film Zone. Ito explains: “A film about a man without a face. His arms and legs bound with ropes, still without even a quiver in a white room. This man, enwrapped in wild delusions, is also a reconstruction of myself. A series of unusual scenes in this room that expresses what lies inside me. I tried to create a connection between memories, nightmares and violent images.” Check out the song and video below…
Cowards Tracklist
1. Crispy Skin
2. Building 650
3. Blood on the Boulders
4. Fieldworks I
5. Fieldworks II
6. Cro-Magnon Man
7. Cowards
8. Showtime!
9. Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)
Squid 2025 Tour Dates
Mon. Feb. 17 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
Tue. Feb. 18 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz Manchester
Wed. Feb. 19 – Glasgow, UK @ Old Fruitmarket
Fri. Feb. 21 – Newcastle, UK @ NSU Domain
Sat. Feb. 22 – Sheffield, UK @ Leadmill
Mon. Feb 24 – Cambridge, UK @ Junction 1
Tue. Feb 25 – Norwich, UK @ The Adrian Flux Waterfront
Thu. Feb. 27 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy Oxford
Fri. Feb. 28 – Southampton, UK @ Engine Rooms
Sat. March 1 – Margate, UK @ Lido
Sun. March 2 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Tue. March 4 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO
Wed. March 5 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon
Wed. April 9 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage
Thu. April 10 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta
Fri. April 11 – Dresden, DE @ Polimagie Festival
Sat. April 12 – Berlin, DE @ Lido
Mon. April 14 – Schorndorf, DE @ Manufaktur
Tue. April 15 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
Wed. April 16 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Fri. April 18 – Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaique Festival
Sat. April 19 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
Sat. April 26 – London, UK @ Roundhouse
