The Buoys’ emergence as one of Australia’s most beloved bands has been solidified time and again with
the release of music that carves out a space for understanding life’s complexities and our navigation
through them all.
Delivered with charisma and insatiable attitude, the band’s evolution across three EPs and their
acclaimed debut album Lustre (2024) has been a masterclass in developing a body of work with
unwavering authenticity and ambition at the core of its DNA.
The success of Lustre – including a #7 debut on the ARIA Australian Album Charts, earning a J Award
nomination for Australian Album of the Year – reiterated to the band and their ever-growing audience alike
how necessary their type of music is in a climate that thrives on uncertainty and chaos.
An avenue to forget, to have fun and to find an emotional anchor through the music.
With their sophomore album Concrete Cowboy, The Buoys have created a new sonic space built on a
foundation of joy and beauty, without sacrificing their signature brand of gut-punching rock music in the
process.
Stories of introspection, empowerment and self-growth are explored against a musical backdrop of
influences that demonstrates the band’s diverse palette. From HAIM and The Beths, to The 1975 and
Adrianne Lenker, the album is vibrant and wonderfully dense in its melodies, hooks and texture.
From the soaring choruses that make album opener ‘Take It Over’, to the lip-biting gnarl that drives songs
like ‘Bitch’ and ‘Kill You Back’, Concrete Cowboy wastes no time in serving the listener perhaps the most
urgent and dynamic version of The Buoys to date.
As with Lustre, The Buoys developed Concrete Cowboy with producer Chris Collins. The album features
co-writes from talented songwriters including Alistair Hayes, Fletcher Matthews, Konstantin Kersting and
Dylan Ollivierre; their contributions marrying seamlessly with Zoe Catterall’s own unique perspectives
when it came to bringing new lyrical ideas to fruition.
“I’ve realised, as a songwriter, that the way I write is at times how I want to be treated,” she explains. “I
often give myself advice, even though I think I’m writing for other people. I think that’s why there’s a
duality to the music; all of my friends would describe me as someone who is willing to call you out on your
shit, but I will still nurture!”
This duality is one of Concrete Cowboy’s shining drawcards: a deeply personal collection of music that
weaves between softness and vulnerability (‘Alone In Vegas’, ‘Tell Me It Gets Better’), moments of
catharsis matched by euphoric guitars (‘Waiting’) and an overall desire to escape (‘Stay Up To Date On
Politics’).
For Catterall, her songwriting process for Concrete Cowboy was largely inspired by a move back to her
hometown; a transitional chapter in her life that depended on her taking the time to focus on her health
and personal trajectory moving forward. The ability to create a world where one is able to hit the pause
button on the craziness surrounding them; the ability to check in and out of things when needed, as a way
to prioritise one’s own mental peace, is something that Catterall and The Buoys all agreed was crucial.
“I really wanted it to be distinctive,” she says. “I wanted people to be able to step inside it when they
wanted to, in the same way that we really have to be selective in what we engage with in the world.
I’ve had to learn the lesson that even though I love to be up to date with socio-politics, it’s actually unsafe
for my mental health to watch the news every single morning. I wanted the album to be a space where
people could come and go, in the same way that we do on the internet and in our real lives. A space
where you can be selective about what you’re ready to feel.”
Concrete Cowboy is an album that invites the listener to submit themselves to and simply enjoy. The
permission to get lost in the music is granted; as is the permission for ourselves to just feel whatever
emotion the music sends coursing through our veins – much in the same way that a live Buoys show
does.
Intuitive storytelling, matched with fervent and chemistry-fuelled musicality, Concrete Cowboy is The
Buoys at their most fulfilled, and their proudest peak to date.