Cowboyy Live at Rough Trade

Cowboyy, one of the most recent additions to London's post punk scene, headlined an in-store concert at Rough Trade, launching their debut EP Epic The Movie. Composed by Stanley Powell (guitar, vocals), Reubin Yarnold (bass, vocals), Kai Smith (guitar), and Rhys Teal (drums), the four-piece band also performed an assortment of their live set.

The EP is a short 5 track run dominated by angular, repetitive, earwormy guitar riffs, making it clear that while they may belong to the post punk scene, they are still capable of taking the sound in new directions. The entire EP is quite light hearted, without any moments that leave your ears ringing. Naturally, I assumed live they would sound quite similar - I was very wrong. Cowboyy's live performance shows that they can match the intensity of any other band in the scene while retaining their unique quirkiness, often delving into dense experimental moments filled with noise. This was highlighted by Stanley Powell's virtuosity on the lead guitar; using a combination of 12 different pedals, he would frantically move both hands up and down the guitar while erratically stomping on all the pedals. Another particularly notable aspect was the drumming of Rhys Teal, whose frenetic performance was nothing short of impressive, establishing a strong dominion over both rhythms and fills. This greatly contributed to an electrifying concert, reinforced by how the band hardly paused throughout their short set, with the longest gap between songs being around 10 seconds.

The only gripe I had with the event was that the sound felt mushed due to the size of the venue; how much of this was due to me being centimetres away from the main speakers is unclear. Strangely, the public were completely unparticipative, with the exception of a few heads nodding; this didn't give the added bonus of a mosh pit, something I was looking forward to, and that I expect the band would have appreciated. I imagine the entire atmosphere the band created would only be improved in bigger and more spacious venues that would allow their sound to expand.

Undeterred by playing together for less than two years, Cowboyy have shown that they are capable of a sonically captivating show blurring all sorts of genres, from new wave to math rock and psychedelia and even noise rock, which was particularly highlighted with their unreleased song Geometric. They have carved out their own area in the scene, out of which they can only grow to create further compelling music.