Squid - "Cowards" (2025)

 

Squid are back with their 3rd LP, Cowards. Following on from their excellent 2023 record, O Monolith, Cowards delves deeper into the band's more experimental and post-rock tendencies. The whole album revolves around the central theme of evil, and while Olly Judge's lyrics and vocal approach regularly dipped into manic and unhinged territory on their past material, the themes and narratives of these songs are way more upfront and explicit.

The opening cut Crispy Skin, for example, is quite obviously from the perspective of a cannibal who is having a moral crisis over their actions, flitting between questioning their decisions and a sort of psychosis where their brain is trying to force them to forget that they actually have done that. Musically, it feels like a bridge between the more wiry post-punk grooves of the debut (Bright Green Field) and the linear Krautrockian song progressions from O Monolith. Blood on the Boulders is this creeping post-rock slow burn and is much more stark and simple than anything Squid usually creates. The track has a hot desert-ish atmosphere that compliments the cultish lyrics detailing a murder under the California sun and the obsessiveness of true crime fanatics wanting to know every last detail. The track slowly unravels from this slow and plodding pace into a typical noisy Squid climax, with the contrast really paying off. Fieldworks II similarly has the atmosphere of a slasher flick, referencing broken bones and wiping blood from ones face against a backdrop of chiming guitars and cinematic strings. The closing line "I don't look in the lake." is particularly chilling.

The other tracks in the first leg of the record aren't quite as interesting, which leaves it feeling a little lopsided. Building 650 is essentially a musical retelling of the Japanese crime novel In the Miso Soup, which is about a serial killer, with none of the deeper commentary or weirdness that other moments on the record have. The track is also musically the most bog-standard Squid. It's not bad (there are definitely songs off BGF that are weaker), but it lacks the unique bells and whistles that most Squid songs have. Fieldworks I acts more as an interlude at the mid-point of the record than as a lead into Fieldworks II but also doesn't really stand on its own, so does just feel a bit odd and unfinished.

The second half of the record is where it really gets into its groove, starting with Cro-Magnon Man. Similarly to Building 650, it's stylistically quite classic Squid, but the weird as hell lyrics about the odd-ball, vintage horror film-esque titular character and frenetic keyboards really draw me in. The title track is a slow jazzy post-rock piece that reminds me of a cross between Kid A era Radiohead and the quieter moments on Black Country, New Road's debut. Showtime! really is the albums piece de resistance, going through multiple phases - starting as a erratic, scratchy post-punk track before moving into an expansive space rock section that then settles into a driving krautrock finale. The closer, Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence) is drawn out and patient, building up the tension through its claustrophobic first half which is then let out in the spacious and ascending second half.

Cowards is another good (and sometimes great) album from Squid. It's not quite as consistent as O Monolith and I think I prefer the quite alien and otherworldly atmosphere of that record to the more gritty and down to earth approach taken to the songwriting here. It's still very inventive and engaging and well worth checking out if you like this kind of neurotic experimental rock.

Top Tracks: Crispy Skin, Blood on the Boulders, Fieldworks II, Cro-Magnon Man, Showtime!, Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)

7/10

The Smile - "Cutouts" (2024)

As I mentioned in the last post about Wall Of Eyes, The Smile went on to release a second album in 2024, being this one, Cutouts. Partially recorded in the same sessions as WOE, the band insist that it is not just a leftovers record; but honestly it does kind of feel like it is. Some of the tracks here fit the much more low key, ambient soundscapes of WOE and others are more reminiscent of the more energetic post-punk and krautrock tracks on the debut. It makes the record feel lacking in identity when compared to either - sort of caught in the middle.

This feeling of inconsequentiality is further felt by the general quality of the songs as well. The record kicks things off with the very low key and not particularly interesting Foreign Spies and Instant Psalm. These songs don't really go anywhere and lack the space and texture that made the slow moments on WOE so enveloping. The record then kicks into gear with frankly the two best songs on the record, Zero Sum and Colours Fly. Zero Sum takes the rhythmic post-punk of the debut and turns it up a notch into full blown math rock. Colours Fly is an atmospheric slow burn that slowly builds into a dramatic climax. The jazzy drum patterns and the dynamic guitars and strings that rise and fall in the mix create such a sense of unease. It would have fit snugly on WOE and I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the tracks recorded from those sessions. 

The weakest track is definitely Don't Get Me Started, which is built around a very repetitive dirge-like electronic beat. Musically the song isn't very interesting, which is then compounded by the way Thom's lyrics read. The come across as very non-specific "You've got me wrong / You don't understand me" pity party, which to anyone in the know about the heat Thom and Johnny have received about their somewhat flimsy stance on the Israel / Palestine this year conflict comes across in such a bad way. The lyrics are, in typical Thom fashion, vague and non-specific; so if it is supposed to be a comment on the criticism they've faced - at least have the balls to say it. And if it's not, surely they knew how it would read.

Nothing else on the album stoops so low, and is the expected baseline of quality for these guys. Eyes & Mouth is a nice middle ground between the the band's two lanes, with groovy lead guitars but a lot of additional layers and flourishes. Tiptoe is a nice bit of ambient piano music, and The Slip is a groovy mix of electronic beats, jazzy drumming and angular guitars. No Words is that driving krautrock jam that Thom and Johnny do so well, but it does feel at this point that we've heard it several times before on previous projects. Bodies Laughing closes out the record in a spooky and unsettling way, with its odd mix of a bossa nova groove and quite eerie and uneasy synths. It's a fine song but pretty underwhelming as a closer in all honesty.

Cutouts is by no means a bad record, and does have a couple of great moments - but it certainly lacks the attention to detail and flow of the previous records. It feels somewhat redundant and lacking in much of its own identity. It's solid enough and enjoyable if you're in the mood for this brand of Radiohead-adjacent music but it definitely has nothing on the first two records from The Smile.

Top Tracks: Zero Sum, Colours Fly, Eyes & Mouth, The Slip

6/10

The Smile - "Wall Of Eyes" (2024)

Nearly a year ago now The Smile released their second record, Wall Of Eyes. It came at a point in time for me that I couldn't truly get into it or appreciate it to its fullest extent - partially because we've had a lot of Radiohead-adjacent projects over the past few years, and partly because the slow and meditative nature of the record didn't fit with how busy and exhausting my life at the time was. But it's intricacies and overall quality has stuck with me over the past year, and is certainly a step up from the already good debut record from 2022.

My main criticisms with the debut record was that it was a bit too long and unfocused, and somewhat lacked its own identity outside of the Radiohead legacy. Many of the tracks felt like they could've cropped up on a number of Radiohead albums. Wall Of Eyes definitely rectifies this, being a tight 8 tracks that takes the subtler more jazz and post-rock influenced moments of the debut and pushes further in that direction. What results is a very quiet and meditative record that really seeps into your bones as you listen.

The record opens with the gentle strumming and distant bossa nova drumming, before Thom Yorke's nazal-y falsetto vocals and layers of washed out synths and strings come into the mix. The structure of the track is fairly simple and repetitive, with the emphasis much more on the texture and atmosphere created. Teleharmonic further builds on this pensive and low-key mood, pairing Thom's voice up with a simple metronomic drum beat and some deep, warble-y synths. The first half of the track is eerily spacious. The bass kicks in from the midpoint and the drum patterns become more complex as Thom's vocals become more impassioned. The linear build of the song is very intricate and subtle and does feel like the band is taking you on a journey through an eerie and unfamiliar setting.

Read The Room is an interesting switch up from the first two tracks, being a more immediate crossover between krautrock and psychedelic Anatolian rock. The guitars are heavier and crunchier, the drumming is rhythmic and hypnotic. The vocal and guitar melodies spiral and wrap around each other. It's something I haven't really heard Thom or Johnny do before and I think they pull it off really quite well. Under Our Pillows continues this more uptempo pace, although it is my least favourite of the record overall. The song is a nervous, twangy post-punk / krautrock track that would have fit snugly alongside many of the tracks from the debut. It just feels like a bit of a leftover amongst the rest of the tracks which are much more patient and focus on texture and timbre rather than the scitzo energy of those moments on the debut. 

Friend Of A Friend is a slow piano ballad that unravels into a jazzy climax with some brilliant chord progressions. The song becomes quite dynamic as it progresses. I Quit is a washed out and reverby bit of ambient pop reminiscent of the atmospherics of A Moon Shaped Pool. The song is drenched in this cinematic strings and would be at home on a film score. This leads into the grand centrepiece of the album, the 8 minute Bending Hectic. This track is just as cinematic as I Quit, as Thom details essentially driving his car of the side of a mountain in Italy with such vivid and colourful imagery. The song slowly builds from discordant strumming and erratic drumming into dramatic and swooning strings, highlighting the difference in emotions between the initial panic of what he's just done into the euphoria of feeling like he flying. The track then progresses into its menacing final section as he's hitting the ground - the guitars are overdriven and wailing, the drums pummelling. It's a brilliant piece of progressive rock. After the climax of Bending Hectic, the record closes out with the quite stark comedown of You Know Me. I think its a great closer for the record. It has a wistful and longing energy that I really enjoy.

Wall Of Eyes really showed why The Smile exists and is an improvement on the debut in every way. It's one of the least rockiest out of any of the Radiohead side ventures, but I think that is to its strength, because these tracks are all about their texture and atmosphere and they sound beautiful and intricate. It's a shame that the 3rd record, Cutouts, was released so quickly after this and didn't really continue in this direction, because I think they had really hit on something here.

Top Tracks: Teleharmonic, Read The Room, Friend Of A Friend, I Quit, Bending Hectic, You Know Me

8/10

Squid - "O Monolith" (2023)

With life becoming busier and busier post-pandemic and post-uni, the blog has become more and more of me just trying to keep up with new releases from artists I already follow, and less about new discoveries. I do want to change that in 2024, and get back to going through that 100 albums poster and also the David Bowie chronology I started doing in 2020 - but one record from 2023 that I really do want to cover is this, Squid's second album, O Monolith. Squid broke through in 2021 with their debut record, Bright Green Field - an experimental post-punk record which drew comparisons to black midi and Black Country, New Road and kind of made them the third part of the triarchy of the then still emerging post-Brexit / experimental post-punk scene. I didn't get around to talking about it here, but it was a good record with some great tracks, although a little bloated and not quite at the same level as the comparisons to bm and BC, NR would suggest.

O Monolith takes everything that worked about the debut and pumps it up to a new level; its' tighter, less derivative, more inventive and experimental, and certainly more wild. The band incorporate a more hypnotic and krautrock-ian sense of rhythm that draws you into this otherworldly place in which the album sits. There is something unhuman and unhinged about it, which to compare the band to their contemporaries once again, reminds me of black midi's debut, Schlagenheim. While that album achieves this feeling through pure shock value, O Monolith gains it through the atmosphere and tension it builds. At a tight 8 tracks and a sharp 42 minutes, it reminds me of some of the post-punk classics from the vinyl age where every track was vital and there was no superfluous fluff.

Swing (In A Dream) opens up the record with twinkling synths and repetitive chiming rhythm guitar, which sets you straight up to fall into this groovy but sinister record. Ollie Judge's vocals command you to "Live inside the frame, Forget everything, Swing inside a dream" like some evil hypnotist. The track breaks down into a flamenco style sax solo towards the second half before the rest of the instruments come crashing back in with a super thick and meaty bass guitar added to the mix. It's disorientating, chaotic, and disarming. This is followed up by Devil's Den, which starts off much more low-key. The track begins as a quiet swaying tune built around delicate flutes, but in the second half it is flipped on it's head, Ollie starts screaming, the discordant guitars come crashing in and the whole track descends into complete chaos.

Siphon Song really slows it down, bringing OK Computer style robotic vocals set against a slow building post-rock-y rhythm section. The track linearly builds to something louder and more dramatic, but nothing as chaotic and mental as the first couple of songs on the record. It really gives off that late 90s early 2000s art rock vibe. Stick this on a Radiohead or an early Elbow album and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. Undergrowth returns to the off-kilter grooviness of Swing (In A Dream), complete with a bigger part from the horn section. The horns provide the pulsating beat to the song as Judge sings "I'd rather melt, melt, melt, away". The whole track feels creepy and deranged.

The Blades kicks off the second half and is perhaps my favourite track on the record (and maybe my favourite Squid track overall). The song is built of this descending, spiralling guitar rhythm, and spiky accentuating lead guitar parts. The song is so dynamic, rising up and then slowing down, and then rising back up again. The sinister paranoia of the song is also very much to my taste, as the song slowly morphs from the half way point, becoming more and more tense as Ollie's vocals become more and more insane. The horns sound more and more like sirens and the rhythm section becomes am overwhelming wall of sound, before it all just cuts back to a restrained outro featuring just a chiming guitar and quiet, restrain vocals.

After the madness of The Blades, After The Flash is at a much more plodding march-like pace. But it is equally as sinister, feeling like a march of the undead or some other kind of possessed figure. Like Siphon Song its a much needed breather in the pace of the record. The song progresses in its second half from something sinister to something more heavenly, as the riff ascends upwards - as if the protagonist of the album is attempting to escape whatever trance they are in. This clearly ultimately fails, as the deranged horn section comes slowly back in and descends back down towards the very end of the song, transitioning into Green Light, which is the most has the most intensely repetitive and aggressive groove of the album thus far.

The album closes out with If You Had Seen The Bull's Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away (what a title I know...). The song was written by the band's guitarist Anton Pearson, and while I do enjoy it to an extent, it does feel a little disconnected from the rest of the record. It's nowhere near as wild as the rest of the album and feels a little out of place because of it. The last minute of the song does build to an intense climax but as a whole the song would've fit much better on Bright Green Field than here.

O Monolith is a great development for Squid and really sets them up as something special, not just another band in the scene. It's intense and atmospheric, and also challenging and chaotic. For me, it has pushed them past black midi as scene leaders (alongside Black Country, New Road), as while bm are still just trying to shock you 3 albums in, Squid are trying to build something greater and more atmospheric (not to knock black midi, I still think Cavalcade is great). If your a fan of the scene, please check it out.

Top Tracks : Swing (In A Dream), Devil's Den, Siphon Song, Undergrowth, The Blades

8/10

The Smile - "A Light For Attracting Attention" (2022)

The Smile is the latest in the long line of Radiohead side projects, consisting of the band's Thom Yorke, Johnny Greenwood alongside drummer Tom Skinner from the jazz band Sons of Kemet. The unveiling of the band and the release of this debut album has been a unique one for the wider Radiohead associated canon, with the band making their debut performance at last years Glastonbury Pilton-party livestream before going quiet for 6 months until the start this year where singles from the record would drop every couple of weeks until the full album released last month. This is in stark contrast to the last few Radiohead albums which would have a pretty quick turn-around between announcement and release, with only one or two singles (or maybe even none) released beforehand. And as each of the six singles released, I found myself thinking with each one, "This sounds just like a Radiohead song, why is it coming from a new side project just to sound like the main band?"

But after hearing the record in full, I think that's kind of the point. Each Radiohead record over the past 25 years has been something new from the last, whereas A Light For Attracting Attention feels like a conglomeration of a lot of the sounds and styles that were new and novel on those records. Besides from not featuring half the members, if this was labelled a Radiohead record, I feel it would be considered a disappointment for not being something wholly new and fresh. Not to say that the album cover any new territory of its own, because it certainly does. The record has a straightforwardness to it, lyrically and in terms of song structure, which brings out a post-punk energy to the thing that most Radiohead albums don't really veer into. However, it still retains its artiness with the record being the most indebted to krautrock and jazz since Amnesiac.

The record opens with the pulsating electronics of The Same, a slowly building linear tune where Thom Yorke proclaims "We all want the same". This is the first introduction to the major theme of the record, blunt political venting. The lyrics on the album are pretty easy to follow, compared to Thom's usual cryptic, word-salad approach to lyrics. This track is immediately followed by The Opposite, a tune built around a jangly, repetitive guitar groove and features lyrics juxtaposing the universalism of the opener, drawing lines in the sand between the people and "the opposite" (i.e. the ruling classes). This leads into the first single and real highlight of the record, the noisy and scrappy You Will Never Work In Television Again which tears down gross men in positions in power - making specific reference to Harvey Weinstein and Berlusconi.

Pana-vision is the first of the jazz infused cuts on the album, building tension through its ascending piano line which doesn't quite resolve. The horn and sting sections on the track sound emasculate and Thom's vocal performance is stunning. The Smoke is an interesting fusion of a simple post-punk guitar loop and jazz instrumentation. While the upper layers of the track sound great, the base loop is a little too repetitive and simple for me, meaning the song only really gets interesting when the jazz elements come in. However they don't progress into much, leaving the song feeling a little flat.

Thin Thing is a hypnotic and raucous krautrock jam that throws tightness to the wind, making the song feel really chaotic as Greenwood's heavily distorted guitar winds round and round and the layers and effects build up in the track. It might be my favourite of the record. It feels like being caught up in a random storm that has appeared out of nowhere and you are entirely disorientated. We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings has a similar bite to it, although sounding more straightforward and direct. It feels like the little brother to In Rainbows' Bodysnatchers with its crunchy guitars and snarled vocals. A Hairdryer is a twangy and groovy song that has a great moment where the track builds and builds to a climax that doesn't actually come, instead moving into a much more restrained lengthy outro, which I think is quite a creative and subversive bit of song writing.

Two ballads sit at the centre of the record, being Open The Floodgates and Free In the Knowledge. The former features Thom crooning about fame and the expectations of live shows, where fans only want to see the singles and not the slow deep cuts and heart wrenching moments. The song is pretty beautiful with the twinkling electronics and piano chords. Free In The Knowledge is a more traditional acoustic rock ballad about hoping for better days and the concepts of 'the truth will come out' and free speech. Its perfectly serviceable, however doesn't quite do it for me. It just feels a little impersonal for a slow acoustic ballad. There is also a moment on the song which Thom sounds like Chris Martin, which exemplifies the sort of nearly-radio 2 listener appropriate the song comes across.

The record closes with Skrting On the Surface, which brings back the jazz elements from earlier on in the record and has existed as a half finished Radiohead song for years (occasionally being played at live shows). Much like The Smoke, the jazz instrumentation lifts this song up considerably, with the base song kind of feeling like it never ended up on a project before now for a reason. Its just okay, not awful but not remarkable either. The swells of saxophone also feel sort of bolted onto the track to give it some weight and intensity to end the album on and don't really gel all that well with the core song here.

ALFAA is a good album, Thom and Johnny are insanely talented songwriters and there are some great moments on here. However it does feel a little unremarkable considering it sounds so similar to a main Radiohead album and doesn't do that much that we haven't already heard from them. There's no serious dips in quality here or weird diversions into completely different styles, so as an album in itself it flows really well and is easy to listen to. It's basically more Radiohead if you like Radiohead.

Top Tracks: You Will Never Work In Television Again, Pana-vision, Thin Thing, Open The Floodgates, A Hairdryer, We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings

7/10