Squid Cowards
Released Feb 7, 2025 Warp Records
Established consensus 13 professional reviews Updated Oct 15, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Squid's Cowards turns unsettling stories of cruelty, addiction, and regret into some of the band's most vivid and adventurous songwriting.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
Crispy Skin
2 critic mentions
“Take ‘Crispy Skin’, which resembles the post-punk ferocity of their earlier work.” — New Musical Express (NME)
Building 650
1 critic mention
“Aside from the guitarwork and ambient detours, strings glide through ‘Building 650’ like a trail of fire” — New Musical Express (NME)
Cowards
1 critic mention
“the lush horns of the title track, find beauty in uncertainty.” — New Musical Express (NME)
Full critic consensus
Squid's Cowards turns unsettling stories of cruelty, addiction, and regret into some of the band's most vivid and adventurous songwriting. The album’s critical reception is strong, with an 83.69/100 consensus score across 13 professional reviews; critics praise its ability to find beauty in uncertainty without sanding down its jagged post-punk edge.
Reviewers hear a shift toward storytelling, with sharply drawn characters and scenes taking center stage amid dissonant guitars, eerie strings, and unexpected textures. “Blood on the Boulders,” praised by multiple critics, confronts the drug crisis with spidery menace, while “Crispy Skin” pairs sprightly melodies and dulcimer sparkle with post-punk ferocity. “Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence)” stands out as a heady, surprising finale. Elsewhere, “Fieldworks II” stretches a tale of wartime regret into a swelling epic, and “Building 650” sets gliding strings against the record’s volatile energy.
The best songs on Cowards showcase a group that can make small details feel cinematic, balancing experimentation with memorable peaks. Critics particularly value the contrast between the album’s dark subject matter and its moments of musical lift: this is no easy redemption story, but a focused, often thrilling study of empathy, unease, and human connection. The reviews offer a compelling case for hearing Cowards as both an absorbing collection of musical short stories and a bold step in Squid’s post-punk evolution.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Crispy Skin
Building 650
Blood on the Boulders
Fieldworks I
Fieldworks II
Cro-Magnon Man
Cowards
Showtime!
Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)
Get the next albums worth your time.
Critic-backed picks in one clean digest. No clutter.
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 13 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Squid arrive with a record that repeatedly thrills and surprises, and on Cowards the best tracks - “Crispy Skin”, “Blood on the Boulders” and “Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence)” - do the heavy lifting. Kavanagh’s prose finds the band settling into status as Britain’s new rock innovators, praising the dulcimer sparkles of “Crispy Skin” and the spidery menace of “Blood on the Boulders” as standout moments. She flags the finale “Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence)” as a stunning surprise, a heady collaboration that sounds like nothing they have done before. The review positions these best songs as evidence that Squid have undeniably arrived, folding experimentation into electrifying, memorable peaks across the album.
Key Points
-
The best song moments are distinctive sonic peaks - “Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence)” surprises, “Blood on the Boulders” menaces, and “Crispy Skin” shimmers.
-
Cowards' core strength is folding post-punk fury and wide-ranging experimentation into focused, electrifying arrangements that signal Squid's arrival.
Themes
Critic's Take
Squid are as curious as ever on Cowards, matching vignettes of unexplainable evil with music that is often explosive and adventurous. The best songs on Cowards include “Crispy Skin,” whose sprightly synth melodies offer comfort against its post-punk ferocity, and “Building 650,” where strings glide like a trail of fire. “Fieldworks II” and “Showtime!” read like the inner monologues of people both timid and resentful. The chaotic brew is still focused and potent, finding beauty in uncertainty.
Key Points
-
“Crispy Skin” stands out for setting sprightly, comforting synth melodies against post-punk ferocity and unsettling subject matter.
-
The album’s literary imagination and adventurous, unpredictable arrangements make its chaotic brew focused and potent.
Themes
Critic's Take
Squid is less about the oddball approach to production on Cowards and more about songwriting, painting vivid imagery over jagged production. The best songs on Cowards are enthralling storytelling tunes: “Blood on the Boulders” explores the drug crisis, while the swelling epic “Fieldworks II” appears to be a wartime narrative about regret. “Showtime!” employs touches of surf-rock and eerie strings, and “Fieldworks I” builds ethereal psychedelia into an epic crescendo. Squid captures small moments and stretches them to their furthest limits, creating musical short films with spellbinding stories.
Key Points
-
“Fieldworks II” stands out as a swelling epic, turning a wartime narrative about regret into an enthralling story.
-
The album’s core strengths are vivid storytelling, jagged production, and sensitive subject matter handled with care and grace.
Themes
