Ok Cowgirl

The Myth of the Cowgirl

      Ok Cowgirl, the lofi indie rock project of Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Leah Lavigne serves as an explosively dreamy testament to shedding insecurities, wholeheartedly embracing oneself, and carving your own path in a world that craves conformity. 

      “I spent my adolescence trying to fit a mold I wasn’t cast from, and feeling bad about myself for not being very good at it,” Lavigne recalls. “When senior prom came and passed, and it dawned on me that despite trying to white-wash myself and be a good girl I hadn’t been asked to a single high school dance, something inside me broke, or perhaps, was ignited.”

      “I fled the midwest for New York and began this process of trying to get free. Unlearning my internalized racism and homophobia, letting go of the expectations and pressure my family put on me, and so much more,” she adds.

       Inspired by a drive to move past surface-level obsessions and proudly claim her experiences as a biracial, bisexual woman, Lavigne began crafting tracks that would become the first Ok Cowgirl singles, employing a rough-hewn, at times raw instrumental sound inspired in part by the indie rock legacy of New York (a lá groups like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Mitski). 

       This liberated mentality remains at the core of Ok Cowgirl’s artistry, which serves as an avenue to explore what it means  to be a musician — and human — in a world rife with discursive challenges. “I started the band when I was trying to figure out what it meant to live by my own rules,” recalls Lavigne, “and I was inspired by the mythology of the Cowboy figure as an individual who doesn’t take shit from anybody.”

      Moreover, the project also represents a stylistic shift for Lavigne, whose previous efforts were marked by a softer energy that the polymath felt was perceived as too depressive, and a desire to explore a more complete range of expression after a solo career spanning nearly a decade.

      “People would come up to me after shows and say ‘Leah, you’re my favorite sadgirl.’ I realized I was filtering myself and my emotions into this wholesome and melancholic act that felt safe as a young female singer/songwriter, and I realized there was so much more I wanted to say.” 

      In pursuing a louder, yet equally introspective sound, the Detroit native stepped away from the piano and taught herself electric guitar — and since the summer of 2018, she, alongside long-time collaborator and percussionist Matt Birkenholz, bassist Jase Hottenroth, and lead guitarist Jake Sabinsky have laid down energetic, lyrically-driven rock tinged with soft synth and melodic, at times angsty lyricism, previously performing under the moniker Leah and the Lowkeys. 

      “The band is about so much more than electric guitars to me, it’s about letting go of inhibitions, and wanting to be ‘ok’ with myself and my emotions,” Lavigne says. “It’s about growing into my best cowgirl: strong-willed, independent minded, and maybe flawed, but unafraid.”