Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Guardian
IGN	8.6/10
Lost At Sea	8.5/10
musicOMH
Pitchfork Media	5.0/10
PopMatters
Rolling Stone
Stylus Magazine	B
Uncut	4/10

Robbers & Cowards is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Cold War Kids. It was released on October 10, 2006 by Downtown Records. The album received a generally positive reception from critics who praised the band's blues rock production and morose lyrics. Robbers & Cowards peaked at number 173 on the Billboard 200 and spawned three singles: "We Used to Vacation", "Hang Me Up to Dry" and "Hospital Beds". To promote the album, the band spent most of 2007 touring across North America and Europe through appearances at music festival and talk shows.

On January 10, 2007, the band announced a 37-city extensive tour across North America that started with gigs alternating between New York City (Pianos, Mercury Lounge) and Los Angeles' Silverlake Lounge before ending with a two night gig in New York's Bowery Ballroom. On June 7, 2007, the band started touring with The White Stripes on their fall tour.

Robbers & Cowards received generally positive reviews from music critics who were impressed with the band's blues rock sound and lyrics that told morose tales of yesteryear. Joe Tacopino of PopMatters praised the tracks for their production and mature storytelling, calling the album "more subtle and honest than Jack White’s various projects." He concluded with, "These ambitious youngsters are definitely worth the trip, even without the ostentatious vocal harmonies." Despite finding the album a bit rushed and an amalgam of their previous EPs, Jeff Weiss of Stylus Magazine said that there's potential in the band from the first three singles concluding with, "It’s a good debut, maybe even a very good one. Whether or not this band will achieve greatness remains anybody’s guess." Chad Grischow of IGN praised the tightly crafted production for sounding crisp yet cluttered and the tracks for conveying various introspective topics concluding with, "The depth of the music, topics, and lyrics is something that most bands spend years trying to pull together, but Cold War Kids pull it off on their debut with ease." Betty Clarke of The Guardian commented on how the religious overtones in the songs can get tiring when Nathan Willett shouts about "murder and alcoholism that both sound like a tempting escape." But Clarke concluded by saying the band can still write great songs and Willett performs better sounding like Jeff Buckley than Jack White.

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