Description
Cold War Kids – Robbers & Cowards – 180 Gram Vinyl Record
Released on October 10, 2006, Robbers & Cowards was the debut album from Cold War Kids, a band that emerged from Southern California’s indie rock scene with a sound that blended garage rock, blues, and soul-infused storytelling. With its raw energy, unconventional song structures, and emotionally charged lyrics, the album introduced Cold War Kids as a band willing to take risks, setting them apart from the polished indie rock of the mid-2000s. Though initially polarizing among critics, Robbers & Cowards has since become a cult favorite, standing as one of the defining indie rock albums of its era.
Musically, Robbers & Cowards thrives on a rough-around-the-edges, live-band feel, combining jangly guitars, stomping rhythms, and a restless energy. The album’s production is stripped-down and unpolished, letting Nathan Willett’s trembling, urgent vocals take center stage. His impassioned, almost theatrical delivery gives the songs a desperate, storytelling quality, drawing comparisons to Jack White, Jeff Buckley, and Tom Waits. The instrumentation is both minimalist and unpredictable, with offbeat piano lines, sudden tempo shifts, and a rhythm section that feels both loose and propulsive.
Songs often teeter between chaos and control, featuring bluesy guitar riffs, raw bass grooves, and sharp, dramatic percussion. The band’s ability to marry old-school blues influences with modern indie rock aesthetics gives Robbers & Cowards an intensely emotional, almost feverish quality, making each track feel like a confessional performance rather than a conventional studio recording.
Robbers & Cowards is filled with vivid character-driven narratives, tackling themes of sin, guilt, faith, and human desperation. The band paints cinematic pictures of wayward preachers, criminals, lost lovers, and flawed heroes, giving the album a storybook-like quality. The lyrics often feel fragmented and poetic, with a stream-of-consciousness style that makes them both cryptic and deeply personal.
Some of the album’s standout moments include:
Hang Me Up to Dry – The band’s breakthrough single, a swaggering, blues-infused track about a failed relationship and emotional exhaustion. The clanging piano and Willett’s strained vocals make it one of the most instantly recognizable songs of the 2000s indie rock scene.
Hospital Beds – A haunting, gospel-tinged ballad reflecting on sickness, mortality, and lost time. The song’s melancholy piano riff and desperate vocal delivery make it one of the album’s most emotionally gripping tracks.
We Used to Vacation – A dark and unsettling song about alcoholism, told from the perspective of a man trying (and failing) to stay sober for his family. The pounding rhythm and escalating tension mirror the narrator’s spiraling loss of control.
Saint John – A stomping, bluesy storytelling track about a wrongfully accused man awaiting execution, showing the band’s fascination with morality and injustice.
Robbers & Cowards received mixed but passionate reviews. Some critics praised its raw intensity, lyrical ambition, and unique blend of blues and indie rock, while others found its unpolished production and theatrical vocal delivery divisive. Despite the initial critical split, the album resonated deeply with indie audiences, earning Cold War Kids a dedicated fanbase and paving the way for their long-running career in alternative music. Over time, many have come to regard Robbers & Cowards as one of the defining indie rock albums of the mid-2000s, influencing bands that followed in its wake.
Though Cold War Kids have evolved in a more polished, mainstream direction in later years, Robbers & Cowards remains a raw, uncompromising debut that captures a band at their most uninhibited. It’s an album that rejects perfection in favor of emotion, delivering songs that feel lived-in, restless, and brimming with desperation. For listeners who appreciate narrative-driven songwriting, bluesy indie rock, and a bit of unfiltered chaos, Robbers & Cowards still holds a unique and powerful place in the indie rock canon.
Brand new, never played and still in the factory plastic sealed
Track Listing
We Used To Vacation
Hang Me Up To Dry
Tell Me In The Morning
Hair Down
Passing The Hat
Saint John
Robbers
Hospital Beds
Pregnant
Red Wine, Success!
God, Make Up Your Mind
Rubidoux
Sermons Vs. The Gospel
