So Cow: Lisa Marie Airplane Tour CD/LP (Jigsaw Records / Tall Pat Records)
Release date: September 16, 2016
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Bio: So Cow have now been around for over 10 years. Lisa Marie Airplane Tour is their fifth album, although there are those who could argue that it is number 6, 7 or 8, depending on how much value can be placed on temporary bandcamp releases or hastily uploaded .zip files. Previous release The Long Con (Goner Records, 2014) was the first full-album to feature a full-band set-up, with Jonny White on bass and Peter O'Shea on drums. Lisa Marie Airplane Tour sees a return to the (much) older days, with Brian Kelly playing all instruments, as well as recording and mixing the album. 2010's Meaningless Friendly was the last time Kelly felt so apparently anti-social as to lock himself in the spare room upstairs and put an LP together.
The album was recorded in the small coastal town of Spiddal in the west of Ireland, a new home for Kelly. Three pubs, two grocery stores, one church and an unseen dog that never stops barking. Turning inexorably towards middle age, Kelly has seemingly decided to quit city life and spend his days stuck behind 80-year-olds on rural roads, hoping that the plague of flying ants comes to a blessed end.
These are 12 songs about anxiety; written in the midst of it, but before actually being aware it was the issue. OCD thoughts making a bus journey to town increasingly impossible, social anxiety making ordering a pint at the local bar a drawn-out task of Herculean proportions. Mind you, it's also fun. Let's not go too far down the road of suffering and anguish. I mean, there's guitar solos on it. The same noisy pop feeling and spirit that runs right through the 2009 compilation So Cow LP on Tic Tac Totally and 2012's Out Of Season, a split with Dublin's Squarehead, can be found here in huge quantities.
Kelly would like to think that this album was influenced primarily by folk like Game Theory, The Chills, Nick Lowe, The Soft Boys and perhaps even The Cardiacs, although whether that comes through is another matter entirely. Ultimately, the main influence on the album is pure, honest-to-goodness disquiet.
The album title comes from a sign near the entrance to Graceland in Memphis. The fantastic artwork is provided by the wonderful Ruan Van Vliet, himself a member of, at last count, 10 incredible Dublin bands.
The album was recorded in the small coastal town of Spiddal in the west of Ireland, a new home for Kelly. Three pubs, two grocery stores, one church and an unseen dog that never stops barking. Turning inexorably towards middle age, Kelly has seemingly decided to quit city life and spend his days stuck behind 80-year-olds on rural roads, hoping that the plague of flying ants comes to a blessed end.
These are 12 songs about anxiety; written in the midst of it, but before actually being aware it was the issue. OCD thoughts making a bus journey to town increasingly impossible, social anxiety making ordering a pint at the local bar a drawn-out task of Herculean proportions. Mind you, it's also fun. Let's not go too far down the road of suffering and anguish. I mean, there's guitar solos on it. The same noisy pop feeling and spirit that runs right through the 2009 compilation So Cow LP on Tic Tac Totally and 2012's Out Of Season, a split with Dublin's Squarehead, can be found here in huge quantities.
Kelly would like to think that this album was influenced primarily by folk like Game Theory, The Chills, Nick Lowe, The Soft Boys and perhaps even The Cardiacs, although whether that comes through is another matter entirely. Ultimately, the main influence on the album is pure, honest-to-goodness disquiet.
The album title comes from a sign near the entrance to Graceland in Memphis. The fantastic artwork is provided by the wonderful Ruan Van Vliet, himself a member of, at last count, 10 incredible Dublin bands.