SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: WESTSIDE COWBOY – IT GOES ON

WESTSIDE COWBOY 
IT GOES ON
ISLAND RECORDS

When a band of conservatory students from Manchester possesses the ability to channel the power-pop stylings of Teenage Fanclub, the soaring choruses of Travis, and the melodic warmth of Catatonia, it beggars belief that they would want to put on cowboy hats and sing rum-soaked Americana, but thankfully, Westside Cowboy has mostly stayed out of the saloon for their debut album, It Goes On.

While their previous offering, last January’s EP So Much Country ‘Till We Get There, was a mix of straight-ahead rockers and plodding roots-inflected ballads, It Goes On leans more heavily on the up-tempo numbers, giving it a fresh and youthful feel.

The opening track “Kick Stones (The Boys)” is said to be influenced by a live recording of the Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On,” and its droning bass opening certainly brings to mind The Velvets, though the overall spirit brought on by the lead vocals tips more to John Cale, who wasn’t even featured on that song.

“Paper Chains” is a bouncy, well-paced rocker that opens with the interestingly oblique lyric “if the rain is really falling as thick as it looks/leave the paper chains inside”. Featuring jangly guitar hooks by Jimmy Bradbury and Reuben Haycocks and a thumping bassline by Aoife Anson O’Connell, it’s a solid number that is sure to delight in a live setting.

“Well Done Kid, You Did It” has a melancholy, Smiths-like mood about it, and it’s not just because of the ringing Johnny Marr-esque guitar work. True to their youthful spirit, it’s a wistful meditation about the places young adulthood takes us, seemingly without our permission, and a kiss-off to the narrator’s former self.

“Big Wheels,” one of the slower tracks on this album, opens with a reference to Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”: “Take the guns away from me/I can’t use them anymore”. Unfortunately, the fatalistic desert noir mood is killed instantly with a reference to Blockbuster DVDs. This band’s fixation with the country and western aesthetic just doesn’t seem to ring true, but it’s also not humorous enough to feel cheeky and ironic. The same problem crops in their other country and western-style numbers: “Patchwork” and the utterly self-serious “Take My Leaving as I Love You.”

The closer, “You Could Have Died There on the Dancefloor,” ends the album on a high note. It’s a punchy, self-effacing song with pleasingly chimeric lyrical gems like “I was outside looking in from the plastic prison screen.”

I wish I could say to Westside Cowboy: please stop being so overly infatuated with America and embrace your British sensibilities. You absolutely shine when you lean into your Britpop roots and give us highly melodic, crunchy riff-driven two- and-a-half minute rockers.

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