The young Brooklyn indie rock Band To Watch Geese — not to be confused with the ascendant jam-band royalty Goose — have returned with their first new song since 2021 debut Projector. “Cowboy Nudes” sees the group embracing a soulful, groovy, Stones-y vibe, among other louche retro reference points. Cameron Winter’s vocals are punctuated by gospel-choir exclamations sometimes and “New York City!” gang chants other times, and he breaks into howling wordless nonsense with enough of a wink that it reminds me of Stephen Malkmus at least as much as Foxygen.

Here’s Winter on “Cowboy Nudes”:

The song is about life getting better, and more fun, after the end of the world.

When we were doing overdubs I wanted to add something Eastern-sounding on the second verse, so I had our drummer Max bring over this busted up sitar we’d had lying around since high school. I went to buy some new strings at a world music store, and the guy told me one pack was $80. I thought he was kidding so I bought two. He was not; sitar strings aren’t cheap. I didn’t even end up fully restringing it, I just played the one not-broken string. So you better appreciate that goddamn sitar on the second verse.

I’m also proud of the line about falling in love with a tumbleweed.

“Cowboy Nudes” arrives with a music video that takes a dystopian NSFW twist halfway through. It’s directed by Andy Swartz and Winter. Watch below.

“Cowboy Nudes” is out now on Partisan/Play It Again Sam.