There’s a wonderful lived-in quality to Manchester four-piece Westside Cowboy’s “It Goes On“, a rare feat for a debut. Sure, the alt-rockers are following a well-trod lineage, working with Geese producer Loren Humphrey and proving the influence of Pavement and the Pixies is alive and well. But that natural-fade feel is more indebted to the band’s chemistry and comfortability, which makes their spin on some of the best-loved tricks in the book—deadpan delivery, big drum fills, driving single-chord riffs—sound original nonetheless.
In an age of algorithms, Westside Cowboy are pure-spirited proof of the magic that can only come from human connection. Just three years on from forming in Manchester, starting a band for the fun of it without so much as a plan to even play a gig, the quartet have crafted perhaps the year’s most exciting debut by simply figuring out what feels good, and following it into the horizon. There’s an urgency of feeling to “It Goes On” that could only ever really happen with a young group’s debut record
There’s a major key, triumphant sound to some music – like the first Arcade Fire album, or ‘Someone Great’ by LCD Soundsystem – where there’s a persistence that’s contemporary and energetic, but also a simplicity.
Our debut LP is called “It Goes On” and it will be released on Island Records on 21st August. It is 35 and a half minutes long and has 11 songs.
The Fat Angel Sings 