So Cow

Kelly started So Cow while working as a teacher in South Korea.[8] After releasing his debut EP Best Vacation Ever on the independent Irish label Rusted Rail in 2006,[9] Kelly self-released the albums These Truly Are End Times in 2007 and I'm Siding With My Captors in 2008.[10] Tracks from the EP and albums were released as the compilation album So Cow by Tic Tac Totally in 2009.[1] Pitchfork wrote that the album was: "full of sing-along hooks and scruffy charm." and gave it a score of 7.7/10.[11] On September 6th, 2014, So Cow released their fourth album The Long Con on Goner Records. The album, which was produced by Greg Saunier, received positive reviews from critics. Writing for PopMatters, 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."[12] Writing for Allmusic, Mark Deming wrote: "Kelly is a gifted songwriter, a strong and impassioned singer, and a guy with a rough but potent guitar attack..."[13] Blurt 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."[14] 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."[15] It was The Irish Times' "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."[16]