Exclusive: Cry Cowboy is a Humble Maturation in reedcee's Production & Songwriting

A natural, country progression of reedcee’s sound: find Cry Cowboy on streaming platforms this Friday, August 12.

Since I covered Didn’t That Hurt a little less than a year ago, reedcee has been hard at work. A rather meaty album of demos, aptly titled Demos II, appeared and disappeared from streaming services; frequent posts on their TikTok with song snippets, artistic insights, personal struggles, and trademark humor pepper their profile; and a new, full-length project, titled Cry Cowboy, finished it’s time in the pot of musical stew after a long, detailed simmer. Like reedcee’s last release, I was able to have the pleasure of listening to a pre-release copy of the upcoming album. 

The Tracks

Well-crafted, complex vocal harmonies and strings populate album’s intro, “Meadow,” followed by a click that leads into the title track, “Cry Cowboy.” Writing a song about an emotionally intelligent cowboy is not only interesting subject matter done remarkably well, but it’s also one that fuels the intriguing visuals for the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS6VVEqM4Do

It helps that the production, both vocal and otherwise, are top-notch. reedcee manages to pull a country rock aesthetic well, making the song feel like a transplanted country-pop-rock track from the 70s. It took me ages to realize why I kept thinking about “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Croft while listening: they’re both in Mixolydian!

"Cry Cowboy" is followed up with “The Beach,” a laid-back track with a steady drum groove interpolating Lana Del Rey’s “High by the Beach.” An ocean soundscape whispers through clean country pop (though not without the bedroom flair of a demo-y vocal leading into the second chorus). “River” is a piano ballad that blooms into an equally fleshed-out alt-pop (with an unexpectedly autotuned second verse).

An outro with an almost arpeggiated, flute-y synth precedes lead single “Hold.” What begins as a fingerstyle guitar ballad slowly incorporates claps, brushes, soaring harmonies, and an earworm hook and outro refrain. It's certainly one of my favorites to come back to after listening to the album in full. reedcee commented on this song via TikTok, saying:

“...this song is about the uncertainty of finding love for the first time and the courage it takes to lean into it fully. I really wanted to make a happy queer love song for the first single and this was one of the songs that helped me allow myself to be vulnerable with my partner and let go of the fear of losing them.”

"Hold" ends and second single “AC” enters: a reversed intro with wisps of vocals that pulls back and settles into a relaxed and steady track. Like songs on their last release, reedcee really tugs at your heartstrings with that feeling of romantic loneliness, feeling like a true B-Side to "Hold." The infection guitar certainly adds to the track, too. reedcee also commented on this song via TikTok, saying:

“I wrote it 4 years ago during the loneliest time of my life. Im releasing it now bc i want to honour that time and that feeling that id never find love, bc now i DO have love and can enjoy the song for what it is; a time capsule of my angsty teen years (and a complete bop)”

After four years, it certainly holds up: "AC" still feels fresh in its production and vulnerable in its songwriting. Bass notes at the tail-end descend into the beginning of “Future,” an autotune-tinged, almost soft-rock track. “Nemo,” an ambient track extending from "Future," includes some spoken word. The closer, “God is a Gun,” tackles religion in a strongly queer, yet humorous way.

Where Cry Cowboy takes you

What makes this release great is a feeling of progression from their last two projects: the cowboy aesthetic fits the country-tinged bow that encircles the breadth of genres exhibited throughout. In a sense, reedcee grows more into the country role by drawing from elsewhere, yet still maintaining that sense of it: banjo alongside bedroom and country songwriting with contemporary honesty make this an unorthodox record, but not one that doesn’t feel cohesive.

Like Didn't That Hurt, reedcee's queer perspective on Cry Cowboy gives them an emotional honesty in their songwriting, one that suits itself well to the country-songwriting outfit the album wears. Beyond the confines of Hurt or Demos, Cowboy finds a voice with trajectory, bridging songs that would feel at home in the EP to a maturing of style, both in writing and production. I'm interested to see where that trajectory leads, but the beginning of that trajectory is strong yet vulnerable, developed yet individual, and emotional yet Cowboy.

Check out Cry Cowboy alongside the "Cry Cowboy" music video, on August 12.

Disclosures: reedcee reached out regarding an advance copy of this album, though I was careful to conserve the integrity of this piece by being limited and focused in discussion. Topics we discussed in relation to this coverage were limited to publication date, press pictures, and advance listening of the album. The opinions in this piece are entirely my own.