Nuclear Cowboy Unleashes New EP ‘If You Need Me, I’ll Be There’

Danielle Holian
4 days ago
2 min read

“When we leave home, how long should we miss it? When a relationship ends, how long should we reminisce on the good times? When someone dies, how long should we mourn? These songs live inside those unanswered questions.” - Nuclear Cowboy

Brooklyn-based artist Nuclear Cowboy makes music built on contradiction. Raised in rural Montana and now living in New York City, his work exists where opposing forces collide: folk and electronics, intimacy and spectacle, sincerity and absurdity. The result is a sound that resists easy classification, music shaped by a world where binary frameworks increasingly fall short.

For Nuclear Cowboy, art is fundamentally about communication. He approaches songwriting as a way of “reporting back to earth,” documenting personal discoveries in hopes they resonate beyond the self. That philosophy informs not only his lyrics, but also his refusal to settle into rigid genre boundaries. Each release feels less like a statement and more like an ongoing conversation.

After quietly releasing two albums in 2020 and 2022 with little expectation or visibility, Nuclear Cowboy began gaining momentum through a steady run of singles and live performances in 2024 and 2025. That consistency paid off: in 2025 alone, his audience grew from roughly 1,500 to nearly 100,000 monthly listeners, marking a turning point from private experimentation to a more public, resonant body of work.

This new five-track EP is his first multi-track release since that growth. Framed as a keepsake in the truest sense, the project explores what it means to move forward without disowning the past, how to honor where you come from without becoming trapped by nostalgia. Across its runtime, the EP grapples with growth, gratitude, and the complicated emotions that accompany change and goodbye.

Sonically, If You Need Me, I’ll Be Here unfolds as a subtle progression. Opening tracks “Keepsake” and “Easy Come” lean into alt-folk textures layered with understated electronic elements. “Mirage of Me” and “Bite the Bullet” expand into a more alt-pop and electronic palette, before closing with “Find Myself,” a brief, intimate, synth-driven finale. Influenced by artists such as Bon Iver, Bibio, John Maus, and Tunng, the EP represents a shift away from dance-oriented production toward a more vulnerable, stripped-back sound.

Onstage, Nuclear Cowboy treats performance as a three-dimensional extension of the music itself, blending dance, humor, and vulnerability to create a sense of genuine connection. Following the release of Keepsake, he will unveil an official music video for the title track, release nine additional singles throughout the year, and return to live performances.

If You Need Me, I’ll Be Here is not a reinvention, but a refinement, an artist learning how to carry his past forward without letting it define him.

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