So Cow

So Cow is an indie pop combo led by Irish singer, songwriter, and guitarist Brian Kelly, playing songs built around his lively but skittish melodies and wiry guitar work. While Kelly hails from Tuam, Ireland, So Cow got its start in Seoul, South Korea, where in 2005 Kelly had a job teaching English. Living in an unfamiliar land and left with lots of time and little to do, he began writing songs and recording them on a makeshift home-recording setup based around his computer. Kelly handled bass and percussion on his early recordings, as well as guitar and vocals, and he self-released his first collection of songs as So Cow, These Are Truly End Times, in 2007. A second collection, I'm Siding with My Captors, appeared in 2008. Primarily distributing his work via the internet and at his live shows, Kelly's So Cow recordings earned enough of a reputation that indie label Tic Tac Totally Records compiled an album from the cream of his self-released material in 2009, simply called So Cow. In 2010, Kelly and Tic Tac Totally released a second So Cow full-length, Meaningless Friendly, but Kelly grew tired of recording and performing as a one-man band, and So Cow grew into a trio with the addition of bassist Jonny White and drummer Peter O'Shea. In 2014, So Cow released their first album as a full band, The Long Con; it was recorded at a studio in Ballyheigue in County Kerry, produced by Greg Saunier of Deerhoof, and released by Goner Records.