It Goes On. Westside Cowboy

In the past months the name Westside Cowboy came by a few times, but the music did not reach me before the release date. That always puts an album at a disadvantage, as so much new music comes into my mailbox before the release date. I decided to take a listen anyway and fell quite easily for It Goes on.

Westside Cowboy is a band from Manchester. Formed in 2023, Jimmy Bradbury (vocals, guitar), Reuben Haycocks (vocals, guitar), Aoife Anson O'Connell (vocals, bass) and Paddy Murphy (vocals, drums) were able to set some concrete steps in these three years, culminating in It Goes On.

Somewhere in the early 80s I bought the album 'The Velvet Underground'. Together with the ("long lost album") release of 'VU' in 1985, it is my absolute favourite album of the band. When I listened to opening song 'Kick Stones (The Boys)', Westside Cowboy brought me back to a song like 'What Goes On'. Just listen to that guitar sound and the way the six strings are attacked. That dry sound of the rhythm guitar. In other words, I was sucked into It Goes On within a minute or so. From 1969 we are taken from the introspective, questioning of 'What Goes On' to the affirmative confirmation of 'It Goes On' in 2026. The way that Aoife Anson O'Connell's voice mixes into the whole makes the even better. It returns often later on on the album.

Of course, just sounding like The VU is not enough. 'Kick Stones (The Boys)' is such an exciting song. Not so long ago I wrote on an album, Tape Toy's 'Dumb Sites', it has everything except a 'Literary Mind' like on SPRINTS' album 'Letter To Self'. Well, with 'Kick Stones (The Boys)' It Goes On has its 'Literary Mind'! The album continues with the super tight yet playful 'Paperchains' and Westside Cowboy has won me over by then.

In the years that I'm writing this blog, I have repeatedly asked myself, how can a band of youngsters still be influenced by a band that stopped existing in 1970 and never had any form of commercial success? Were their grandparents fans and so hip that the grandchildren listened to them playing their records? Fact is, this band listened closely, but not exclusively to The VU. Dutch indie darlings Personal Trainer can be heard in some of the songs, like e.g. 'Worried Age', while the band also has a more alternative pop oriented side, like you can hear in 'Well Done Kid, You Did It'.

Westside Cowboy calls its music brittanamerica. Nicely found, but americana is not exactly what I'm hearing on It Goes On. Okay, there is the solo performed, folky song 'Take My Leaving As I Love You' but that is not enough for the americana moniker. This album is one I would place more in the U.S. than the U.K., like latter day Buffalo Toms to name an example.

No singer of Westside Cowboy has the voice of Doug Yule, made famous because of singing 'Candy Says', the band does attempt to bring the tempo down and succeeds. Pumping up a song to the point where it almost explodes stands the other end of It Goes On. When O'Connell gets the lead vocal in 'Coyote', the link with The VU is complete. That song explosively goes off anyway later on, is beside the point.

It Goes On is the starting point for Westside Cowboy. The band still has a lot to prove, but having a debut album like It Goes On under its belt, is a starting point many bands never reach.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

Je kunt It Goes On hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://westsidecowboy.bandcamp.com/