cowboyy – revocder

Bands are always at their most dangerous when they feel they have something to prove. Such was the case for cowboyy, a young musical trio from England’s south coast that emerged from the South London gig circuit four years ago.

With math rock at their core, they did everything fundamentally right on their first EP, 2023’s Epic The Movie. Though it got its fair share of stick from genre purists, who felt it didn’t have enough complexity to fully earn its stripes. Vocalist, guitarist, and all-around pedalboard master Stan Powell admitted this was at the forefront of his mind during the writing process for some of revocder’s tracks. The rest had already been written (or were in the works) since the band’s formation, particularly over the last two years, and were inspired by a series of lucid dreams. Because of this, they recommend listening in track order. Clocking in at twenty minutes over nine tracks, revocder feels like the closest that cowboyy have come to a full-length album, though they still refer to it as an EP.

With influences ranging from the realm of the utterly bonkers (think King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard) to the dense guitar layering of The Smashing Pumpkins, cowboyy bridge the gap and arrive at their own interpretation of noisy psych rock—with all experimental sounds created by guitar and pedal effects.

revocder begins with a last-minute addition, the title track, intended to succinctly convey, over twenty-four seconds, what is to follow—and it certainly sets the tone. The cavalcade of squealing guitar at times mirrors those infamously nostalgic ’90s internet tones, already telling you that cowboyy have dialed up the math rock mania.

With a melodic but suspenseful intro, an unholy wall of sound launches into “bell pepper hell,” with hardcore-pounding drums, wailing discordant licks, and whirlwind layers of fuzzy mess at breakneck speed. Powell explains: “I had a job working in a bell pepper factory. One day, there were reports that one of the workers had fallen through the floor. We never heard about him again. A fellow bell pepper picker and I did find holes in the factory floor. The term ‘bell pepper hell’ was coined, but it wasn’t until that night that I dreamt of bell pepper hell.”

At its roots, it is such a simple story, yet it becomes something so delightfully bizarre. Powell’s vocals swell to increasingly manic shouts before the whole thing finishes with a swirling effect, as if it were all being flushed down a plughole.

“the chair mountain” features jagged stop-start rhythms, enhanced by escalating guitar intricacy and a solo so dizzying that you can just imagine Powell’s fingers trying to catch up with themselves. The lyrics to “chewing” loosely represent some of the frontman’s personal issues around food. Kai Smith’s bass groove is an anchor as the indie rock rhythm is drowned by detuned guitar stabs. At times, it successfully finds the perfect middle ground between composed and apeshit. “And then the cowboyy lost his mind” is the apt line that triggers a chaotic spiral into pure discordance and intense, layered vocals.

One of the EP’s high points is “melancholy (chain),” and though cowboyy don’t do conventional, it is one of their more linear compositions, as is clear to hear. Dan Haysom’s off-center drums are the star of this track, mounting after energetic verses. Vocal projection seems distinctly emphasized, with hints of late ’80s and early ’90s Pixies-style alt rock, also showcased in the looser rhythmic swing and scaling solos.

A fifteen-second interlude (that no one asked for) offers a robot’s considerably creepy lowdown on why he wants to be a cowboyy so badly, delivered with as much emotion as is… inhumanly possible. You feel this is definitely an attempt to consciously make this EP weirder than the last.

Another highlight, “drawbridge, castle,” gets off to an exciting start, with half-snarling pop-punk sensibilities and poetically delivered spoken word (with lots of reverb), while a fuzzy, thrashing breakdown plays out. Sliding pitch shifts are created by Powell’s then-new baby (an EarthQuaker polyphonic pitch-shifter pedal). Messing around with this bit of kit is what spawned the song in the first place, and it produces some pretty neat effects.

At times, something similar to a reversed ambulance siren is achieved; at other times, you can just envisage the frenzied raising and lowering of the drawbridge. Chaotic imagery was the conscious aim. The lyrics set the scene of a cowboyy and a castle, and there’s a reference back to bell pepper hell too. Also taking on the role of co-producer, Powell was influenced by surrealist artist Hieronymus Bosch, who focused his art on dreamy yet peculiar landscapes, coinciding perfectly with the EP’s overall theme.

“incomplete” is defined by exactly what the title would suggest, but hints at escapism from the stagnation of life, with hallucinatory sounds very much echoing the prospect of breaking free. At first, a repetitive reggae rock bassline is set against tinny, twinkling psych guitar, conjuring the ’60s and ’80s simultaneously. Given the theme, it’s easy to see where Powell’s attitude and exasperation come from through the medium of an Americanized, power-punk-leaning vocal.

Although cowboyy have gone further in their experimentation on revocder, “collide,” the closing track, is probably the best place to start for anyone new to the whole math rock thing. With a far more subdued instrumental beginning, it differs from everything before it, which plunged you straight into the deep end.

This song was only ever intended as a joke, the band’s tongue-in-cheek “rock anthem,” though it has fast become a fan favorite, probably for its conventional catchability, ironically. The lyrics were written around 2022, which was not Powell’s best time, it would seem, judging by their doom-filled nature. The spoken-word, deadpan delivery tackles introspective subject matter frankly and head-on, while winding guitar weaves around it. It is a refreshing change from all the other intentionally discordant offerings.

cowboyy have improved on their first EP and, if nothing else, should be commended for their ambitious nature, seeing them flirt with synth-like guitar effects, jazz elements, and power punk. Against all odds, it still manages to be catchy in places while capturing an authentically offbeat, one-take energy.