Postpunk with art claim – and all sorts of rattles.
The Squid postpunk has always been gripping. Now, on her third album Cowards, he not only grabs, but also groovt. “Crispy Skins”, for example, has a drum bass level, but above it are a number of percussion elements that keep the song in motion until the band breaks it off in the middle in order to rebuild it in a good post-rock manner.
A look at the credits shows reasons for the focus on rhythm: John Mcentire was responsible for the mix, one of the best drummer in the indie scene. He had already taken over this job at the previous album o Monolith, but now it seems that Mcentire had exerted influence from outside: Squid brought the percussionist Zand’s Duggan to the studio, who had his magic box with rattling and made intensive use of it.
The urge to do as much as possible in as little time as possible has moved away
The co-producer of the album is Marta Salogni, who last showed with her work for Depeche Mode and Kim Deal how good she is to open patterns by choosing completely new approaches to add experimental backgrounds. Squid act on cowards as if they are devoted to these challenges with great dedication. The urge to do as much as possible in as little time as possible has moved away.
The band treats itself to the calm for areas, equipped with great strings or brass. The latter give the title piece in conjunction with “Ba-Ba-Bah” choirs a weird Easy listening mood. In the captivating finale of “Well Met (Fingers Through the fence”, a trumpet accompanies a sacred art music that reminds of the best moments of Efter sound or thesis of New Puritan before the insane track ends as it should be for this fantastic plate: with all sorts of rattles .
You can find out which albums were published in February 2025 via our monthly publication list.