Squid release 'Cro-Magnon Man'

Squid unveil “Cro-Magnon Man," the final single from their new album Cowards, out this Friday, February 7th via Warp Records. Pre-order Cowards here.

“Cro-Magnon Man” jumps to a parallel timeline where the objects that contain no meaning will likely outlive us all. Featuring vocals from guitarist Louis Borlase alongside Clarissa Connelly, Tony Njoku and Rosa Brook, glitching synth stabs and guitars provide the backdrop which otherwise exists in a bass heavy underworld.

“Cro-Magnon Man" follows singles “Crispy Skin,” which The FADER described as “a surprisingly breezy song about cannibalism and moral cowardice” and “Building 650” a song on loneliness, and the feeling of being secluded, even amongst a crowd. Both singles have been playlisted on BBC Radio 6.

Cowards is an album about evil. Consisting of nine distinct tales, these apophenia-tinged songs are punched by vantablack comedy. Cowards is rich in layers and harmonies, full of digital soundscapes, acoustic grandeur and experimental tones found by pushing instruments far beyond their traditional roles. Throughout their third album, Squid — Louis Borlase, Ollie Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson — explore textures of folk, kosmische, psychedelia, jazz and electronics. It is the sound of five brains all tuned into the same frequency, bassist and cornetist Nankivell explains, “it’s fucking difficult, it takes many years to figure out a collective language you can share with five of us, and we have managed that musically, to feed off each other.”

The band recorded Cowards at Church Studios in Crouch End with Mercury prize winning producers Marta Salogni and Grace Banks. On additional production is longtime shifu and collaborator Dan Carey, who recorded the band’s first two albums. The record was mixed in Seattle by John McEntire, before being compressed by the rich analogue chain of Heba Kadry’s mastering in Brooklyn, New York.

The eclectic soundworld and bold experimentation on Cowards is best demonstrated with twin songs “Fieldworks I” and “Fieldworks II” that explore a tragic feudal fairy tale. Title track “Cowards” is an opulently orchestrated and sweetly languorous number, featuring added vocals from Brook and Njoku, flugelhorn from Chris Dowding and additional percussion from Zands Duggan. Lyrically, Ollie Judge finds beauty in alienation, singing about the dream and his fear of freedom: inspired by Yorgos Lanthimos seminal feature Dogtooth.

Conceptually, Cowards’ enigmatic ensemble of characters reaches climax on the band's first “diss” track “Showtime!” where Judge summons none other than Andy Warhol, as the lyrics tackle exploitation, ego and abuse. Whilst “Blood On The Boulders” examines the Manson Family murders through the lens of a ‘death tourist’ or YouTube content creator.

Squid leave their characters behind on album closer “Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)”. The protagonist here, our apathy for the climate crisis imagined with the immediate impact of the nuclear holocaust in Terminator 2. On Cowards, Squid have achieved something new and strangely preternatural.

Cowards will be available on black and clear vinyl, CD and cassette. There will also be a limited deluxe edition vinyl - including a 10” with bonus material and poster only available from independent retailers and Squid’s website.

UK Dates

• 17.02 - Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool, UK
• 18.02 - O2 Ritz Manchester, Manchester, UK
• 19.02 - Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, UK
• 21.02 - NSU Domain, Newcastle, UK
• 22.02 - Leadmill, Sheffield, UK
• 24.02 - Junction 1, Cambridge, UK
• 25.03 - The Adrian Flux Waterfront, Norwich, UK
• 27.02 - O2 Academy Oxford, Oxford, UK
• 28.02 - Engine Rooms, Southampton, UK
• 01.03 - Lido, Margate, UK
• 02.03 - Chalk, Brighton, UK
• 04.03 - XOYO, Birmingham, UK
• 05.03 - Bristol Beacon, Bristol, UK
• 26.04 - Roundhouse, London, UK

EU Dates

• 09.04 - Cabaret Sauvage, Paris, France
• 10.04 - Club Volta, Cologne, Germany
• 11.04 - Polimagie Festival, Dresden, Germany
• 12.04 - Lido, Berlin, Germany
• 14.04 - Manufaktur, Schorndorf, Germany
• 15.04 - Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 16.04 - Trix, Antwerp, Belgium
• 18.04 - Motel Mozaique Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 19.04 - Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands