Album of the Month: Not My First Rodeo - Ok Cowgirl
Dream-rock band, Ok Cowgirl, emerges in the Brooklyn music scene with the compelling debut EP Not My First Rodeo
Ok Cowgirl’s debut EP, “Not My First Rodeo,” melds the soft intimacy of bedroom pop with the gritty rapture of indie rock. Self-described as, “the Intersection of lyric-driven catharsis and dreamy, guitar centric ecstasy,” the Brooklyn-based band, fronted by singer and songwriter Leah Lavigne, delivers refreshingly honest, intimate songwriting and raw instrumental passages. Her vocals swirl around the tracks with intricate melodies that raise goosebumps on skin, covering the contours of love, longing, loneliness, and soul searching.
The first track, “Unlost” opens with the line, “once you stop making it the meaning disappears,” immediately pulling listeners into the existential weight of the self and the search for meaning. Lavigne’s soft head cuts with a pulsing drum beat and bass line, a push and pull of meditation and brooding. The limbo like state of introspection builds in the bridge, giving way to a hazy reverb drenched instrumental release as the song melts into a textured guitar outro. The song sets the tone of the grey, questioning, tepid waters that EP builds on.
The second track, “Her Eyes”, Lavigne croons about loneliness and longing, the way they move away and towards each other like a magnet, intertwined in the romantic infatuation of a lover’s eyes. The band captures both the euphoria and sadness, musically mirrored by up and down of the arpeggiating synth. The instrumentals create an atmosphere of rosiness and intoxication emblematic to queer longing in ballad-esque track, as Lavigne confesses to the yearning, comfort, and desperation of a crush.
“Across the room” is a complete upheaval of the beautiful longing in “Her Eyes" as the relationship comes to a full stop. Lavigne’s vocals performance features a more gritty and bitter texture compared to the smooth tenderness of the previous track. Despite the major key and upbeat tempo, it is more somber, contrasting nostalgic warm memories with the frustration of a familiar stranger. Sung with angst and anguish, the line, “now I only see you in passing,” memorializes the passing of the impermanent relation.
The fourth track, “Deer in the Headlights” resembles a Mitski-esque callous and rock performance. Full of crash cymbals and sliding guitar notes, you can sense the thick heaviness and resignation in the instrumental backing, encapsulated by the lyric “I’ve been standing still for what feels like an eternity”. It is a song of defeat, the paralysis of fear, and the dual confusion of and compulsion to moving forward.
The EP culminates with the final track, “Roadtrip (Till the End of Time) a heartbreaking piece that speaks to the seemingly infinite reverie of longing. With soft fingerpicking guitar behind a subtle drum machine beat, Leah’s vocals wind up and down like the winding road she is driving on. The narrative arc follows a roadtrip to the old lover’s house, “wasn’t sure if it was a bad idea to show up at your doorstep so I decided to make a road trip out of it”, creating destinations and distractions along the way. We join Leah as she broods in the numb droning of highway driving and confesses a final, sorrowful last plea for her unrequited love.
The compelling and moving debut EP positions Ok Cowgirl as an artist to keep an eye on in 2022. Not My First Rodeo is streaming on all music platforms. Learn more about Ok Cowgirl and upcoming shows here: okcowgirlband.com
