Squid have always been slightly off-centre from the rest of the UK’s vivid and vigorous alt-rock/post-punk scene, which is likely why they were surprisingly picked up by legendary label Warp – a bastion of British alternative music, but typically more angled towards electronic sounds.
This Friday will see the London-based quintet release their third full-length, Cowards, and the ever-growing confidence in their ability and vision abounds across its runtime. Where once Squid’s more offbeat touches felt precocious and audacious, they are now natural and deft instrumental flourishes that are fully at home in their expansive palette.
We tasked the band with telling us more about the albums that influenced Cowards and they’ve duly delivered one each. Unsurprisingly, they’re all classics in one form or another – they’re either well-established GOAT territory records, connoisseur’s choices from legendary catalogues or cult favourites. Squid are not self-aggrandising by picking these as influences; these are genuinely the levels they strive to reach with each new release.
Before diving into their picks, enjoy the blistering opening track from Cowards, “Crispy Skin”.
Scott Walker – Tilt
[Drag City/Fontana; 1995]
I was listening to this album a lot when our album’s lyrical theme of evil and morality was rearing its head. One of my favourite things about Walker’s post 1980s period is how unapologetically unsettling, gross and funny it can be. Lyrically I really wanted to create a similar sense of smirking unease with our album Cowards. The lyrics in Tilt and all of his work after are often impenetrable which is something I take influence from, I love skirting around a subject and not giving too much away. Scott Walker refuses to tie up his songs in a neat little bow and I think Squid does that in someways… nowhere near how Walker did it. – Oliver Judge
Mark Hollis – Mark Hollis
[Polydor; 1998]
Talk Talk always seem to rear their head when we are in the writing process and this time we had Mark Hollis’ self-titled LP. I remember having this listening companion whilst we were hunkering down writing throughout winter. It no doubt fed its way into the intentional decision to move to a slightly more natural soundworld of organs and acoustic guitars / muted trumpets. He does so well at naturalising unique and complex sound palettes through the instrumentation and structure of his pieces (“The Watershed” being in 13/8 is beautifully baffling) but also through intentional production choices – inspiring us to inhabit those more unusual worlds ourselves. – Laurie Nankivell
Tortoise – TNT
[Thrill Jockey; 1996]
When we started writing Cowards, we wanted the album to have an atmosphere. We were thinking, “let’s strip things back in places” – we like to think that this challenges us more because it’s harder to place silence than notes. I’m a fan of many of John McEntire’s musical projects but what’s always brought me back Tortoise a lifelong inspiration is, despite complexities, the clarity of the parts is astounding – melody’s king.
In my opinion, TNT is the best album example of this. When I now listen back to tracks like “The Suspension Bridge at Iguazú Falls” on TNT, I realise the implicit sway this had over the writing of some of our own songs like “Fieldworks”. Melody in arpeggios, and careful layers of natural sounding instruments. TNT is a sometimes a playful album, it’s also profoundly beautiful and also makes me want to play Marimba. – Louis Borlase
Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
[Fish People; 2011]
We could have included several of Kate Bush’s albums on this list, Aerial and Never For Ever would have been good contenders. 50 Words for Snow is wrongly overlooked in Bush’s catalogue. As is often the case in her work, there is a beautiful balance between electronic, sampled and acoustic instruments across this album. There’s real complexity in the music without it being impossible to discern what each instrument is playing, which is something we were consciously trying to achieve on Cowards. There are also a bunch of incredible, delicate moments across the album, which we’re still learning to get good at and be confident with. We didn’t have the budget for a Stephen Fry cameo like this album did on the title track, but maybe we will next time if Cowards sells really well. – Anton Pearson
Björk – Debut
[One Little Indian/Elektra; 1993]
The choice of sampling in the production of this record is sublime. The timpani on our song “Showtime” was an idea I took from listening to “Human Behaviour”. – Arthur Leadbetter
Cowards is out this Friday, 7 February, via Warp Records. You can order it here. Follow the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.