Album, Single and EP Reviews


 

 

  Star? … Or No Star? by Toy Gun Cowboy


Star? … Or No Star? cover art

Artist: Toy Gun Cowboy
Title: Star? … Or No Star?
Catalogue Number: Glitter Groove GG060824-A
Review Format: CD
Release Year: 2007



We certainly get all sorts of music through the letterbox at Bluesbunny Towers. Rock, pop, country, blues, and indie - we get the lot. Then we get the stuff that can't really be classified. Stuff like Toy Gun Cowboy.

We get 6 songs on this mini-album. "Lo-fi" does what it says on the tin though, oddly enough, it is the vocals that appear to be lo-fi so we must assume that it was an artistic rather than technical choice. "Renaissance" starts off with a Middle Eastern feel before leaping across a conventional bridge into indie rock territory. Like most of the songs, the lyrics are more of a chant than anything else. "Scatterbrain" comes across all conventional apart from the heavily processed vocals and the lyrics suggest that the writer does not play well with others. A similarly downbeat feel also haunts the lyrics of "Broken (Evelyn's Theme)". The closing track "Big Box of Buttons" had thinking us - of all things - of Prince's funkier early stuff. We also suspect that those distorted vocals would get kind of annoying after a bit for most people.

So, what's it all about then? Well, the Bluesbunny is not really sure. In many ways, it seemed like the kind of music that deranged artists like NN Maddox or Stagger Lee (of 14 Mercy Records) are releasing. However, Toy Gun Cowboy seems more discontented than disturbed. There is a message in these songs but this Bluesbunny is not sure that he gets it. By no means unlistenable, it does seem at times rambling and unfocused. Perhaps we have another angry young man lurking just under the surface? Available from CD Baby.


www.toyguncowboy.com
Reviewer:
Review Date: November 30 2007