Westside Cowboy: It Goes On - A Review

Words: Amy Jade Davies

Following the release of their second EP, So Much Country ‘Till We Get There earlier this

year, the UK’s favourite addition to the alternative rock scene are soaring to new levels with

their debut album It Goes On. Westside Cowboy have very quickly become one of the

most talked about bands emerging onto the scene right now, with their distinctive sound

blending rock, folk and country elements, gaining them a legacy that is sure to do nothing but

continue to expand if they are to follow suit in the way their debut album has come to life.

Having been first introduced to Westside Cowboy in a live setting, they are easily one of the

most promising new talents emerging out of UK music. Opening track Kick Stones (The

Boys) first appeared in May as the first single to be released from the album and instantly

provides a solid basis for what to expect from the Manchester four-piece: four lead vocalists

and perfectly built up instrumentation in each of the members’ areas of expertise. Though

the band are not quite strangers to the scene any more, they are far from worn out - the

opening track feels refreshingly experimental, fusing country with indie rock in an explosion

of sound that knows exactly what it is trying to do. Volume is seemingly an important factor

contributing to Westside Cowboy’s unique stamp on the music scene, drawing attention to

certain areas of the song through quick crescendos and dropping right back down to softer

tones. Kick Stones (The Boys) is pen on paper Westside Cowboy - exploratory, innovative

and exceptionally capable.

The sophomore track Paperchains is a personal favourite number. Containing rougher

vocals, unfined but adding layers to the track because of the fact, album title ‘It Goes On’

rings out repeatedly through the chorus by all four vocalists, ending on a country-rock

minute-long instrumental. Third in the mix is the final single released just a couple of weeks

before the album in Dobro, showcasing a fantastic knack for storytelling through the lyricism.

You leave this track feeling as though you know the ‘dobro’ in question, a feeling familiar to

the curious of people who often find themselves wondering about people who you have only

had a brief interaction with. The instrumentation has a surrounding feeling, capturing the

listener in a bubble that closes in but does not feel uncomfortable and popping to bring you

back to reality right as the track ends.

Well Done Kid, You Did It brings a deep sense of identity, establishing a theme of seasons

early on. The whole song describes the evolution of one’s identity through time, particularly

through lines like ‘That person has gone’ and ‘Maybe this is just what I am now / And you

can’t steal me from it / Maybe I always was’. There is a bittersweetness to the idea of

change, with vocalist and bassist Aoife Anson O’Connell repeating backing vocals of the line

‘Hold onto that thought’, highlighting a kind of nostalgia for the person you used to be.

The album then flows readily into Worried Age, continuing the nostalgic theme that is so

strong throughout the mid-section of the album. This song feels like growing up

soundtracked to pretty guitar riffs, personifying how scary it is to grow older - getting things

wrong, knowing they are wrong and still getting up and trying again anyway. Big Wheels

stays on track in a tune that is the physical embodiment of time passing. The title lyric ‘Big

wheels keep on turning round and round’ followed by the ‘Pa-pa-pa’ vocalising outro holds a melancholic note to its steadiness. A slower track for Westside Cowboy’s standards, but not

without their usual charm, this song is a staple emotional piece that fans are sure to hold in a

tear to.

The set then falls to the final of the singles from the album in Pin Up Boys, and hearing it in

action alongside the full album really proves just how well Westside Cowboy can tell a tale.

Following the previous three tracks in the full picture, the opening line ‘If nothing else, at

least I looked alive’ tells a different, fuller story than when it was a stand-alone single. The

lyrics bring to life a feeling of finding your footing after a long process of change within

yourself. The chorus can be perceived as outgrowing a friendship, or a past version of

yourself, but mostly to keep pushing to grow outside of the box that people try to put you in.

For fans of Westside Cowboy and of the live music scene itself, the second half of this track

is a familiar one and a tune that arguably the band are best known for along with the intro to

I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You), with Aoife’s backing

vocalisation melodies always held up by their crowds. Pin Up Boys is a tune that I see

making big waves for a long time to come.

Coyote brings a change in pace as Aoife takes over on lead vocals in a song that beautifully

describes the impact of humanity on earth. Standout lyrics like ‘This is the most beautiful

place on planet Earth / And I’m killing it with every step’ and ‘The rocks here have grown

hands / To hold knives and guns and poison / To strangle the people’s man’ are such poetic,

well-chosen words to discuss an issue as prevalent in modern times - a feat that is often

attempted, but rarely executed to such precision. Patchwork then takes a similar feel in less

words, yet featuring one of my favourite lines of the album as a whole in ‘It would take a lot

of patchwork to cover my sin’. The louder addition of keys in this particular track strikes a

nerve, highlighting the impact of the song despite its lack of lyrics. It is undoubtedly a song

that requires you to sit with it a few times to truly feel its effect, but the outcome is more than

worth it.

Penultimate track Take My Leaving As I Love You circles back to the feeling of outgrowing

someone, but this time in a more romantic sense. The song balances guilt with comfort,

familiarity with virtue, and decorates the complexity of the situation in stunning imagery such

as ‘Throw your coins into a well / And pretty soon the water tastes like copper’. The

instrumentation is delicate, reflecting the difficult subject matter, with the guitar holding just

as much (if not more) emotion than the vocals. It is painstakingly poignant in its honesty, and

earns respect for that alone.

The album comes to its close with You Could Have Died There On The Dancefloor, another

song that has that undeniable Westside Cowboy blood fuelling it. It is built on violent lyricism

often aimed towards the narrator, and discusses the plague of imperfection faultlessly. The

song also revolves around phones coming into a relationship, referenced multiple times in

lines like ‘And I could tell that you looked tired / In the blue lights from your phone’, ‘I was

outside looking in / Through the plastic prison screen’ and ‘Through my lacerated fingers I see your moving picture smile’. This final song is a true example of poetry converted into

music, a principle that Westside Cowboy have conquered cleverly. It is a perfect ending to

one of the greatest albums to come out of 2026.