Cowboy Indian Bear – Live Old, Die Young
Rating: 
A four piece from Lawrence, Kansas, Cowboy Indian Bear have already put themselves and their music up for your purveyance. Back in 2010, they released Each Other All the Time, which gained them some fans through their faster folksy songs. Three years, and some supposed grueling touring and extravagant production later, they’re back with a sophomore effort that’s supposed to reflect these experiences. The result is Live Old, Die Young, whose title even sheds a little insight on how experience has shaped this band.
Before you even begin to listen, the title has already conveyed some darker theme that looms over the entire album. As you start, this theory changes into reality as “Washing,” the first track, comes on. Starting out slowly, the band wakes you up to their sound with a gentle lullaby of sorts. You have the delicate female/male combination harmonies and the waltz-esque beat covered with string work to top it all off. All these elements combine to create a beast of a tune that builds upon itself to end in a swirling culmination of folksy and old-timey sounding manner. It shows off the band’s strong suits and serves as a promising start to the album.
But is this a song that really encompasses the entire sound of Cowboy Indian Bear? Yes, but also no, in that they have a real mixture of genres and pacing on Live Old, Die Young. From track to track you have a general mix of what to expect, which is quite refreshing in terms of an album. The songs maintain the same combination of singular and strong male vocals with female focused complementation to back, but this is one of the main features that carry through all of the songs. Take the band’s single “Does Anybody See You Out?” and the song “Seventeen” that comes two tracks later. The first of these two is a drum driven song, with buzzy alterations of those male lead vocals you heard on the first track. This song comes with the lyrical tag that serves as the chorus, “I’ll grind you and spit you out—” a dark and edgy line within a mildly garage rock song. Then, on “Seventeen,” the band softens things up, focusing on the lighter harmonies and incorporating less rigid percussion in the form of jingly sleigh bells.
Point being, Live Old, Die Young, offers a lot to its listeners, and you can really feel the amount of intense effort that this group has put into their sophomore work. I expect great things from this band in the future and for them to garner some more fans with this album, so be sure to give it a spin.
