Cowboy 2.0’s inaugural CONTENT FARM Vol. 1 Prom showcases a delightful variety of dreampop-influenced artists to launch a new compilation series.

A message from the Make Oklahoma Weirder team: this article was originally written by Evan Jarvicks in 2019 and is being released as part of MOW’s “VVeirder VVinter Vault” of 2023.

Since the start of the year, newly-formed OKC independent record label Cowboy 2.0 has been rolling out batch after batch of delightful and offbeat tunes under its flagship series, CONTENT FARM. As the name implies, it’s a project designed to cultivate new local music from new local artists. Spearheaded and curated by the boys behind pop band Husbands, the series regularly invites musicians to create songs based on a different theme for each volume.

At seven releases and counting, CONTENT FARM has produced some fascinating results. Volume four‘s space western theme showcases tunes that meld dreampop and country in striking ways, and volume six‘s Halloween theme includes tracks that warrant comparison to Tom Waits and Fever Ray. However, for a truly cohesive experience that thrives on some of the rotating cast’s best strengths, the inaugural volume is hard to beat.

CONTENT FARM Vol. 1: Prom is the perfect theme for a circle of musicians enamored with dreampop and similar slow-to-moderate, soft-edged styles. Plenty of reverb and synth come together to make sweet, blissful numbers that would feel right at home on a modern-day Pretty in Pink soundtrack.

While Husbands gets in on the fun to help launch the series, Vol. 1 also features new names like Rose Glasses and Tokyo Swish. Everyone is on the same page stylistically, and the younger projects even outshine the veterans at times. Rose Glasses’ “Let It Flow” is lush with catchy arpeggios and a sweet guitar solo finale. Tokyo Swish’s “Homeroom” is so ’80s that the brief Japanese dialogue sample is one of the few giveaways that it is likely not from that era.

Then there’s “When the Party Ends” from Mad Honey‘s Tiff Sutcliffe, one of the best songs to come out of the whole CONTENT FARM project. At over five minutes, it’s also one of the longest, but that’s due to a lingering nature that adds to the inescapable, longing feel of the song. It practically comes with its own abandoned mirror ball, spinning in an empty room as confetti litters the floor. While many songs here rely on atmospheric mixing to elevate their minimal chord structures, such choices serve a greater purpose here, emphasizing an emptiness that is both lamented and romanticized.

Cowboy 2.0 is a promising new label the likes of which scenes are made. With like-minded collaborators, it gives an identifiable banner to a newer OKC/Norman music movement that has been building for years. If CONTENT FARM is the label’s artistic statement, then Vol. 1 is its preamble. With the focus and talent it provides, it sets a spot-on launching pad for one of 2019’s most interesting experiments in local music.