Rodeo Boys -- Junior
Rodeo Boys bring an aggressive punk rock attack to the patriarchy, navigating gender norms, desire, and how they both empower and limit us.
Rodeo Boys hits the ground running on Junior. The album is a muscular, frenetic punk exploration of what it means to be connected to someone – and how to live after those connections fade. The album opens with "Speedway," a furious whirlwind of the pain of losing a loved one and the complicated feelings that come with it.
"Pump Six" gets a little more old-school with it, a tightly-constructed punk beat whose frenetic energy contrasts with the impossible distance created by frustrated connections. The crunchy groove of "Crystal Pt. 1" sucks us in to the risky high of a new love. Meanwhile, "Peonies" is a measured pop punk song of love lost, highlighting Rodeo Boys' command of melody and a dynamic energy that has us see-sawing between grief, anger, and the kind of self-destructive impulses that make us enter into trysts know are ill-fated.
Running throughout Junior is a critique of gender and desire. "All American Man" interrogates the ways adhering to traditional ideals of masculinity can make us powerful, even when they are limiting. I read "Cowgirl in the Dark" as more than a breakup song – underlying the pain are the contradictions inherent in masc/femme relationships, the ones that expect specific roles within the relationship, even if those expectations contradict the needs of the real individuals occupying them.
Junior doesn't offer as answers. Sometimes you just need to be lost in the confusion and flailing in the maelstrom just to get to the other side.
