Album Review: Squid - Cowards

Their most balanced in terms of tone and scale, Squid unearths the evil that cowards from the light on ‘Cowards’. While fascinatingly thought out, the fleeting compositions and thematic concept is left to be desired.

UK Art Rock shapeshifters Squid has everything toned down for ‘Cowards’, a record where they narratively zoom into the evil that lingers underneath the common ground. Never too subtle and never too intense is the way they head into unearthing this evil, flickering to and fro amongst various people in various places and eras. Whether it be inspired by literary works that Squid has always pulled their writing since their debut or inspired by the places they have gone through, they instill the dread of these protagonists’ perspectives, albeit gesturing to it rather than dumping them all down in heavy weights. Connecting the pieces of loneliness and apathy that may amplify the acts of cannibalism, manipulation, and violence, yet never daring the poetry to get more fractious. All comfortable with letting these dire situations stay still.

Sadly, the musical component to all of this also feels more feeble. Lighter instrumentation and additions of experimental producer Marta Salogni alongside various instrumentalists may give Squid the added touch for the melodies to sound colorful and organic, but the direct approach and tempering down the compositions only add to the frustrating listlessness on display. Said listlessness may connect with the album’s overall theme, yet it manages to overshadow the parts of the album that makes the numbed momentum snap awake - the jittery pace of ‘Showtime!’, the deep-seated cooldowns and crescendos that accentuate the dread of ‘Crispy Skin’, the shaky guitar passages of ‘Cro-Magnon Man’, and the horn accents that make ‘Cowards’ sound glistening.

‘Cowards’ is a record that is willing to take the middle ground from what the band has usually approached back in their last two records, bridging the gap between the intense and the subtle extremes, where walking in the middle doesn’t remove their dynamic melodic instincts, just taking a different mode from how they make things work. It may serve the album’s thematic concept, yet it also haphazardly puts a lot of the melodies and performances end up playing into that apathy to a fault, never letting them shamble even more to create a juxtaposition with the observant poetry. In observing the evil that cowards from the light, Squid sadly shuns away in clashing the darkness with the light, a cowardly move indeed.

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Favorite Tracks: ‘Crispy Skin’, ‘Cro-Magnon Man’, ‘Cowards’, ‘Showtime!’

Least Favorite Track: ‘Fieldworks I’