Freshly returned from a European tour, next week Cola will release their second LP The Gloss(due out June 14th on Fire Talk and Next Door Records in Canada). The follow up to the acclaimed debut Deep In View, which wasthe first offering from the group composed of former Ought members Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy, and Weather Station/US Girls drummer Evan Cartwright. The album has so far been preceded by the singles “Albatross” and “Pallor Tricks,” which have seen praise from outlets like Pitchfork, FADER, Stereogum and The Guardian, who called “Pallor Tricks” proof that Cola are “maturing into an even better band than Ought.”
Where the band’s debut primarily moved at a persistent kinetic thrum, The Gloss has introduced some new dynamic wrinkles to the band’s sound, and making forays into more contemplative and more discursive areas. “Pulling Quotes” redirects the more driving impulses of some of the band’s early songs, replacing the driving tension that’s often been a hallmark of Cola’s sound into something more downbeat, but no less compelling, as the rhythm sections gentle propulsion creates space for Darcy’s hypnotic lyricism before the track reaches a layered crescendo.
Darcy says of the track:
“Ben sent us this demo with music based on the melodic limitations of the Uilleann pipes, which he is learning to play (the bassline is mimicking the drone of the pipes). He and Evan then recorded a demo together that they were really happy with. I’ll admit I wasn’t drawn to it initially but they kept reiterating their enthusiasm for it. I finally sat down and wrote the whole vocal in one afternoon, pretty nearly in final form which rarely happens.
Lyrically, it’s a song about a relationship where two people are approaching each other like journalists, or perhaps even are journalists. The music is so bright and open I felt the lyrics needed to be a bit cheeky to match the tone. There is definitely some pathos, though, in the darkness of the bridge.”
Stidworthy says of the track’s accompanying video:
“For me, the video could be seen as a reflection on the cycles of desire and deception in our relationships, and the interference running through that arc – the endless doom scrolling and stalking and assumptions and projections and repeating all these roles we think we should be playing that we’ve seen on tv. It’s about navigating through all this mediation, and trying to make sense of what’s real in the density and mess of it all.”
NEW ALBUM, THE GLOSS,
OUT JUNE 14TH ON FIRE TALK
Photo credit – Amy Fort