# Cowards (album)

Cowards is the third studio album by the English post-punk band Squid. It was released by Warp Records on 7 February 2025, and was well received by music critics.

## Background

Cowards was recorded after the completion but before the release of the band's second album, O Monolith, with recording finishing on June 9, 2023. It was inspired by traveling to different countries and reading books about the countries to create what lead singer and drummer Ollie Judge described as a "book of dark fairy tales." Some of these books included Agustina Bazterrica's Tender is the Flesh and Ryu Murakami's In the Miso Soup.
The lyrics touch on a variety of topics within the overall topic of "evil itself," with "Crispy Skin" being about cannibalism and "Blood on the Boulders" about the Manson murders.

## Composition

Cowards has been described as both post-rock and art rock, with influences from a diverse set of other genres, including electronica, folk music, and psych rock. The album was seen as a continuation of the band's distancing from their earlier post-punk sound. Writing for The Quietus, Cal Cashin described Cowards as "A Pet Sounds, except all of the pets are scorpions, and tarantulas, and maybe some stick insects too".

## Release and reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 86/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Clash | 8/10 |
| Paste | 8.2/10 |
| Pitchfork | 7.6/10 |
| The Skinny | |
| Under the Radar | |
Cowards was released by Warp Records on 7 February 2025. It follows Squid's 2023 album O Monolith.
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Cowards received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 from 15 critic scores. In a review for Paste, Alli Dempsey wrote that "Sonically, Cowards might be Squid’s most actualized and in-depth venture yet." Writing for Under the Radar, Nick Roseblade felt that Cowards was "the strongest album Squid has released to date".

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson.

## Personnel
### Squid

* Louis Borlase – guitar, bass guitar, vocals
* Ollie Judge – drums, lead vocals
* Arthur Leadbetter – keyboards
* Laurie Nankivell – bass guitar, brass, percussion
* Anton Pearson – guitar, bass, vocals, percussion

### Additional musicians

* Ruisi Quartet – strings (tracks 1–6, 8, 9)
** Alessandro Ruisi – violin
** Venetia Jollands – violin
** Luba Tunnicliffe – viola
** Max Ruisi – cello
* Zands Duggan – additional percussion (tracks 1–3, 5–9)
* Rosa Brook – additional voices (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
* Tony Njoku – additional voices (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
* Clarissa Connelly – additional voices (track 6)
* Chris Dowding – flugelhorn (tracks 7, 9)

### Technical

* Marta Salogni – production, recording, additional engineering
* Grace Banks – engineering, additional production
* Dan Carey – additional production
* Heba Kadry – mastering
* John McEntire – mixing
* Chiara Ferracuti – additional engineering

### Visuals

* Ben Sifel – design
* Tonje Tielsen – photography

## Charts

Chart performance for Cowards :
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 172 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 17 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 92 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 5 |