Jacksonville’s Coyboi Circumvents the Monotony on Groovy New Single, “Time Away”

“Spent some time away, looking for reasons to love myself again,” sings Coyboi frontperson Cortnie Frazier on the opening salvo of “Time Away,” the funk-R&B-and-smooth-jazz infused new single from the popular Jacksonville indie band. The song opens with a disco beat and some invocative interplay between two guitar motifs – reverb-drenched strums and a funky vamp – all of which foreshadows the push-and-pull of the song’s lyrical theme of checking in and then checking out as the best way to tackle recurrent mental-health issues. 

Though Coyboi remains the project of Frazier and multi-instrumentalist Ihlan Magloire, the band has consistently drawn from a Marvel Universe of local talent. And “Time Away” features a bonafide Avengers-esque cast of Jax artists, with flipturn’s Mitch Fountain and local sax man Carlos Vizoso adding guitar and brass, respectively; Ty Sullivan (Dean Winter and the Heat) and Jon Ward on drums and bass; and a mix-and-master courtesy of Chicago-based Jax-native producer extraordinaire Brok Mende. 

“Time Away” was first conceptualized as an instrumental track, before quickly morphing into “a song addressing mental health and how one can at times get stuck in those cyclical head spaces,” Magloire wrote in an email about the song, which he says takes some of its groove cues from Rock-and-Roll-Hall-of-Famer Nile Rodgers. “Ultimately it’s about getting out of a place where one is regularly, and finding a change of scenery, or some ‘Time Away,’ from the monotonous things in life.”  

Magloire says Coyboi will continue to circumvent the monotony as it plans several releases over the next few months en route to a new EP. 

“Time Away” is out now. Listen via your preferred streaming platform here.