The windmill scene coming out of the United Kingdom has easily been the most significant movement in rock music in the past decade. Bands such as Black Midi, Fontaines D.C. and Black Country, New Road have put out some of the most creative and impactful albums of recent years. One of the more notable bands in this scene, Squid, recently released their third record, “Cowards,” and it is absolutely their most captivating.
“Cowards” builds on musical themes that were present in Squid’s first two albums, focusing even more on dynamics and post-rock songwriting.
Haunting, unique melodies are heard all throughout the album, which is quite more advanced than their previous, often more boxed-in, work. The entire album captivates the listener with its grueling and shocking melodies, being more reminiscent of classic ’80s goth-rock than typical Windmill music does.
Tracks such as “Blood on the Boulders” and “Cro-Magnon Man” utilize said melodies, as well as unique song structure, mixed with dynamic creativity and confusion — in a good way — lyrical themes and songwriting that is generally consistent with the genre.
The way electronic instrumentation is utilized is very reminiscent of Radiohead, and while that isn’t necessarily innovative, it is a very difficult-to-replicate musically inclined way of production. This differs considerably from their previous two records, as both focused more on rock themes, conventional instrumentation and structure.
The title track, “Cowards,” is possibly the best song on the album, utilizing cryptic melodic structure along with groove. Making post rock music that one can bop their head to is a very, very difficult feat, and one that is rarely accomplished by their contemporaries. There is a definite Sigur Rós influence in many of the compositions, which is quite refreshing to hear.
Other tracks such as “Crispy Skin” use electronic instrumentation to build musical themes. The album does get darker and more spacious as it progresses, which boils the listeners frog into being able to fully enjoy and grasp the complexity of the songwriting.
Despite being reminiscent of its predecessors, both from themselves and other influences, the album feels completely unique from start to finish, and manages to blend several different sounds into a sludge that ends up sounding completely original.
There is very little on the album that does not stand on its own, which is extremely uncommon in a genre focused on lengthy compositions and blending. Every single track, regardless of its content, has total replay value, unique themes and impeccable craftsmanship. There isn’t a boring moment either.
With nine tracks, clocking in at a 45 minute run time, the album is a perfect length. The only flaw is the lack of peaks. Nothing stands out as towards the top of the musical spectrum on the album, and while the entire album is consistently great, there are no songs or moments that reach the level of impact and musical prowess that many of its contemporaries succeed to. However, there are no musical flaws on the album.
I personally rarely give out perfect scores for albums, and I don’t feel that this record is captivating enough to warrant being in the five star club but it is very, very close.
4 / 5 stars
dwolf1@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @squidbanduk, Instagram
