Squid have announced their third album, Cowards, which will be out February 7 via Warp. They made it with producers Marta Salogni (Bjork, English Teacher) and Grace Banks (Porridge Radio, black midi) along with longtime collaborator Dan Carey. It features contributions from Danish musician Clarissa Connelly, composer / singer Tony Njoku, Rosa Brook from London group Pozi, percussionist Zands Duggan, and Jonny Greenwood collaborators the Ruisi Quartet for strings. The album was mixed by mixed by John McEntire (Tortoise), and mastered by Heba Kadry. The band simply say Cowards “is about evil.”
The album opens with sprawling six-minute opus “Crispy Skin,” which is also its first single. “‘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,” says Squid singer/drummer Ollie Judge. “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. If I was actually in that world, I probably would be the coward in this instance.”
The video for “Crispy Skin” was directed by Takashi Ito and adapted from his 1995 short film, Zone. “A film about a man without a face. His arms and legs bound with ropes, still without even a quiver in a white room,” the director says. “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.” Watch below.
Squid are currently in NYC and will perform songs from Cowards for the first time tonight (11/12) at Drom in the East Village. They also have 2025 dates lined up across the UK and Europe and those are listed below.
Cowards
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