Squid announces new album ‘Cowards’: hear ‘Crispy Skin’

Last year Squid released their second album Oh Monolith. The post-punk freaks returned earlier this year with the one-off tune “Fugue (Bin Lied)”, and today they announce a new LP titled Coward. The cannibalism-inspired first single ‘Crispy Skin’ is out now.

“’Crispy Skin’ is lyrically inspired by a dystopian novel The flesh is tender I read where cannibalism becomes the social norm and humans are manufactured and sold in supermarkets,” explains singer/drummer Ollie Judge. “I think when most people read these kinds of books, they imagine themselves as the kind of person who would take the moral high ground in these stories. The song was written about how the reality of having a moral compass in these stories of despair and horror would be extremely difficult.

“If I were really in that world, I’d probably be the coward in this case,” adds Judge (as someone who recently watched the series YellowjacketsI’ve been haunted by this topic lately too). The six and a half minute sprawl is overflowing with stirring synths, a catchy bassline and beautiful piano, growing into an uncontrollable whirlwind with every second. It is accompanied by a music video by Takashi Ito, which serves as an adaptation of his award-winning 1995 experimental short film Zone. He explains:

A film about a man without a face. His arms and legs tied with ropes, still without any vibration in a white room. This man, shrouded in wild delusions, is also a reconstruction of myself. A series of unusual scenes in this room that express what lies within me. I tried to make a connection between memories, nightmares and violent images.

Squid recruited a team of employees for Cowards: Danish experimental songwriter Clarissa Connelly; composer, pianist and singer Tony Njoku; Rosa Brook of punk group Pozi; percussionist Zands Duggan; and the Ruisi Quartet for violin, viola and cello. Marta Salogni, Grace Banks and Dan Carey tackled production, with Tortoise drummer John McEntire on mixing and Heba Kadry on mastering.

Watch the ‘Crispy Skin’ music video below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Crispy skin”
02 “Building 650”
03 “Blood on the boulders”
04 “Fieldwork I”
05 “Fieldwork II”
06 “Cro-Magnon Man”
07 “Cowards”
08 “Show time!”
09 “Well done (fingers through the fence)”

Cowards releases 2/7 via Warp Records.