Boston prog rockers Bent Knee keep making waves by releasing success after success, the latest of which is their 2017 album Land Animal, which we unanimously praised. However, the band’s bassist and singer, Jessica Kion, along with bandmates Ben Levin and Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth, tap into comedic gold on their side-project Justice Cow.
This seems to have started as the Youtube channel of Jessica by herself, as early as 2012, with the song “Let Me Be the One”. Shortly thereafter, the channel was also host to her deadpan humour with the video “How to Get Gum Out of Your Hair in 30 Seconds”. The comedic side of Justice “Jessica” Cow seems to then take over the musical side of the project, with more humour videos than music ones. To me, the apex is reached in late 2013, with three great videos in a row: the song “A Cautionary Tale”, which is great but unfortunately is on none of their releases, the false tutorial “How to Get a Boy to Like You on the First Date”, and the gloriously absurd “Wu-Tang Dance Contest”.
The channel continues on with various comical videos and songs that are rather consistently good, although more simple than what Bent Knee is known for, and the latest video on record is for the song “Elephant Man“, which was posted almost two years ago. This song features some intricate and impressive interplay between the guitar and the keyboard, but I don’t think it’s one of their best.
The project has, through the years, released three albums that are available on bandcamp. If you can never get enough of Bent Knee – just as you should –, I suggest you take a glance at Justice Cow. It’s not as grandiose and bombastic as Bent Knee, but it’s funny, charming, and they play some very good rock that’s more in the indie, folk, and alternative vein.
Prog Talk 