NYC Scene Report – OK Cowgirl, Don’t Believe In Ghosts, & Rubblebucket

This week’s NYC Scene Report features OK Cowgirl pulling out “Little Splinters,” Don’t Believe In Ghosts saving us from “Drowning,” and Rubblebucket with a song for “Stella The Begonia.”

* Brooklyn-based indie rock band OK Cowgirl has some “Little Splinters” for everyone, but these little splinters won’t pierce your skin, instead they’ll work their way into your personal playlist.

Discussing the song in a statement, OK Cowgirl frontwoman Leah Lavigne said, “‘Little Splinters’ is a song about self-empowerment and self-love. It’s named ‘Little Splinters’ because it’s about feeling small and insignificant, like a splinter – something so tiny that people don’t even notice you’re there except for when you are a nuisance to them.”

“Little Splinters” is off the band’s upcoming full-length debut, Couldn’t Save Us From My Gut, which is due out August 16th via Easy Does It Records.

With vocals that have a hint of Nina Persson (The Cardigans), and a lead single I keep hitting play on, I can’t wait to hear more from OK Cowgirl.

* NYC’s kings of indie pop-rock, Don’t Believe In Ghosts, are back with a brand new single, and they hope it saves us from “Drowning.”

“Drowning” is about struggling to keep up with life amid constant distractions, but because this is Don’t Believe In Ghosts we’re talking about, the song isn’t a weight, but rather a feel-good flotation device to save us all.

Discussing the inspiration for the song in a statement, frontman Steven Nathan said, “Sometimes the distractions are louder than the internal message, and sometimes our passions are muted by the barrage of noise being thrown at us daily.”

“Drowning” shouldn’t be muted. It should be played at a high volume. You can start by clicking play, and letting it inspire you to float onto the dance floor.

* Not a lot of bands have written a love song to a plant, but that’s why we need Rubblebucket.

With their latest single, “Stella The Begonia,” the NYC duo of Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth have given listeners a boisterous, botany inspired, indie pop banger.

Stella, however, is more than just an object of Rubblebucket’s affection, they’ve also learned from her, as the band says, “Taking care of Stella over the years, watching it turn to face the sun, holding the light in the mornings, bending and striving to keep living, has inspired a heightening of my own desire to be alive, and helped me through times of loneliness.”

Click play on “Stella The Begonia,” it’s the plant anthem you didn’t know you needed.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.