So Cow are an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band from

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It was started as the recording project of Brian Kelly in 2005 in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. The group evolved into a three piece band with Jonny White on bass and Peter O'Shea on drums for 2014's ''The Long Con,'' released on

Goner Records Goner Records is an independent record label and record store co-owned by Eric Friedl of The Oblivians and Zac Ives and based in Memphis, Tennessee. It is known for releasing albums by punk, garage rock, and more recently post-punk and synth-ori ...

'','' as well as 2012's ''Out Of Season'' split album with Squarehead. The band have appeared at

Primavera Sound Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as Primavera) is an annual music festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, during late May and early June. It was founded in 2001 by Pablo Soler as "a showcase for Spanish Noise rock, noise ban ...

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

& Castlepalooza. Their sound has been described by

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

as "''Like Television Personalities or

The Clean The Clean was a New Zealand indie rock band formed in Dunedin in 1978. They have been described as the most influential band to come from the Flying Nun label, which recorded many artists associated with the "Dunedin sound", and one of the fir ...

at their most engaging, Kelly plays rickety guitar-pop that sounds homemade without feeling insular."'' The group received media attention in 2009 in

after naming a song after the popular South Korean actress and model

Moon Geun-young Moon Geun-young (; born May 6, 1987) is a South Korean actress. Affectionately called the "Nation's Little Sister", Moon began modeling at the age of 10, then made her acting debut in 1999 as a child actress. She first rose to stardom through h ...

Career

Kelly started So Cow while working as a teacher in

. After releasing his debut EP ''Best Vacation Ever'' on the independent Irish label Rusted Rail in 2006, Kelly self-released the albums ''These Truly Are End Times'' in 2007 and ''I'm Siding With My Captors'' in 2008. Tracks from the EP and albums were released as the compilation album ''So Cow'' by

Tic Tac Totally Tic Tac Totally was an independent record label run by Matt Clark in Chicago, Illinois. He also runs the "Dumb Audio" zine. Since forming in 2006 Tic Tac Totally has released over 50 records. The label has released LPs and 7"s by punk and garage ...

in 2009. ''

'' wrote that the album was: "full of sing-along hooks and scruffy charm." and gave it a score of 7.7/10. On September 6th, 2014, So Cow released their fourth album ''The Long Con'' on

. The album, which was produced by

Greg Saunier Gregory Lovell Saunier ( , born 18 May 1969) is a musician, producer, and composer best known as the drummer and founding member of Deerhoof. ''Rolling Stone'' included Saunier alongside Brian Chippendale (of Lightning Bolt) and Zach Hill ( ...

, received positive reviews from critics. Writing for

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

, Matthew Fiander wrote: "So Cow emerges on The Long Con as a fresh new voice in rock music, and the band has a sound that is inherently dynamic and doesn’t need to sit still." Writing for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Mark Deming wrote: "Kelly is a gifted songwriter, a strong and impassioned singer, and a guy with a rough but potent guitar attack..." ''

Blurt Blurt is an English post-punk band, founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Background Blurt was founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire by poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of ...

'' reviewer Tim Henly opined: "This stuff is noisy and hooky though the band never goes for the obvious hook, in fact, some of the guitar playing is downright amateurish in the best way possible." So Cow's fifth album ''Lisa Marie Airplane Tour'' was released on September 6, 2016, by US label Jigsaw Records. It was Bandcamp's "Album of the Day" on September 28 of that year, with the website writing that the album: "captures the disorientation that accompanies emotional and physical dislocation." It was ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

"New Release of the Week" on September 30, with music journalist Niall Byrne commenting: "If you like noisy guitar pop, with a dose of the real then So Cow's your man."

Discography

Albums

*''These Truly Are End Times'' (2007) Self Released CD *''I'm Siding With My Captors'' (2008) Self Released CD *''Meaningless Friendly'' (2010)

* ''The Long Con'' (2014)

. * ''Lisa Marie Airplane Tour'' (2016) Jigsaw Records / Tall Pat Records / Lost Sounds Tapes * ''Do Re Mi Fa So Cow'' (2019) Self Released - CD/Cass * ''But What Has That Done To The Scores?'' (2020) Self Released - Digital * ''Bisignis'' (2021) Self Released - CD/Cass, Digital

Live Albums

* ''Live Outside'' (2020) Self Released - Digital

Singles, EP's & Splits

*''Best Vacation Ever! EP'' (2006) Rusted Rail *''Moon Geun Young'' 7" (2007) Almost Ready Records *''Commuting'' 7" (2008) Going Underground Records *''Ain't No Fun'' 7" (2010)

*''GMT EP'' (2011) Ride The Snake Records *''Out Of Season'' (2012) Inflated Records - Split album with Squarehead *Visa Waiver 7" (2013) Boston Pizza Records - Split single with Image Makers

Compilation

* ''So Cow'' (2009)

References

{{Authority control Irish indie rock groups