There’s a particular kind of bravery in refusing resolution. On If You Need Me, I’ll Be Here, Nuclear Cowboy doesn’t tie his emotional loose ends into neat bows, he lets them fray. The result is a five-track EP that feels less like a statement and more like a reckoning.
Born in rural Montana and now based in Brooklyn, Nuclear Cowboy has long thrived on contrast. His music lives at the intersection of folk intimacy and electronic abstraction, a space where vulnerability is filtered through circuitry and sincerity brushes up against surrealism. But where earlier releases flirted with dancefloor catharsis, this new EP pivots inward. It’s quieter. More deliberate. More exacting.
The opener, “Keepsake,” unfolds like a faded photograph coming back into focus — acoustic textures bloom gently beneath restrained electronic pulses. There are echoes of Bon Iver’s stark emotional landscapes, but Nuclear Cowboy’s delivery feels less mythic and more conversational, as if he’s speaking directly across a kitchen table. “Easy Come” follows suit, balancing organic instrumentation with digital restraint in a way reminiscent of Bibio’s pastoral futurism.
Midway through, the EP expands. “Mirage of Me” and “Bite the Bullet” introduce sharper electronic edges, channeling the off-kilter romanticism of John Maus while maintaining the folk-rooted sensibility that grounds the project. There’s even a hint of folktronic experimentation à la Tunng, though Nuclear Cowboy never loses his own voice in the comparison.
What lingers most, however, is the closing track, “Find Myself.” It resists the expected crescendo, opting instead for a stripped-back, synth-driven meditation that feels like a soft landing after emotional turbulence. It’s not an explosive finale, it’s a quiet acceptance.
If You Need Me, I’ll Be Here isn’t a reinvention. It’s refinement. Nuclear Cowboy sounds less concerned with proving range and more focused on deepening impact. In doing so, he delivers his most cohesive and quietly compelling work to date, an EP that understands that growth doesn’t always arrive with fanfare. Sometimes, it arrives as a whisper.
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This artist was sent to us via Decent Music PR