Today Cola, the Montreal band formed by ex-Ought members Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy alongside drummer Evan Cartwright, share their new single and video ‘Albatross‘ and announce a batch of UK tour dates for November, which come in addition to their UK tour this month (all dates below). The new single is taken from their second album, The Gloss, due out June 14th on Fire Talk and Next Door Records in Canada, and follows on from ‘Pallor Tricks‘, ‘Bitter Melon‘ and ‘Keys Down If You Stay‘.
The Gloss is the follow-up to their 2022 debut album Deep In View,whichreceived praise from the likes of Pitchfork, Clash, NME, NPR, FADER, Stereogum and Rolling Stone who named the band an Artist You Need To Know and called their debut “one of the year’s most thrilling rock statements.”
While a degree of compact minimalism is a hallmark of the band’s sound, the tracks that have been heard from Cola’s new LP have shown a more discursive bent than their first album. The songs have more parts and more variations, and a tendency to blend an undercurrent of simmering urgency with oblique rhythms and changes of pace. ‘Albatross‘ is no exception, maintaining a forward momentum redolent of the race horses featured in Darcy’s lyrics, but with a contemplative element worked into the band’s spacious arrangements.
Darcy says of the track:
“This song had a few lives before it took its final form. We played a much faster version on some later Deep in View tours with different lyrics. When we eventually got to the studio we revisited Ben’s original demo and decided to slow it down and re-introduce a heavier feeling.
I then had a spark of inspiration and completely rewrote the lyrics, which center around “an albatross”–something that greatly hinders accomplishment. From there I started thinking about a horse race and perhaps some trainer watching a slow motion replay to try identify what’s wrong with an animal’s stride, hence the chorus.”
1. Tracing Hallmarks
2. Pulling Quotes
3. Pallor Tricks
4. Albatross
5. Down to Size
6. Keys Down If You Stay
7. Reprise
8. Nice Try
9. Bell Wheel
10. Bitter Melon
2024 UK/EU/NA TOUR DATES:
TICKETS
8th May | Hanover, DE – Cafe Glocksee
9th May | Rotterdam, NL – Vessell 11
10th May | Eindhoven, NL – Altstadt
11th May | Luxembourg – Out of the Crowd Festival
13th May | Ramsgate, UK – Ramsgate Music Hall
14th May | Birkenhead, UK – Future Yard
15th May | Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
16th May | London, UK – The Garage – Medical Aid for Palestinians Benefit Show w/ Shame + PVA
17th May | London, UK – The George Tavern
18th May | London, UK – The George Tavern
5th July | Toronto, ON – The Garrison ^
6th July | Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s ^
7th July | Detroit, MI – Lager House ^
8th July | Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle ^
11th July | Nashville, TN – Third Man Records ^
12th July | Atlanta, GA – 529 ^
13th July | Asheville, NC – Eulogy &
15th July | Washington, DC – Songbyrd +
16th July | Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s +
17th July | New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom +
18th July | Troy, NY – No Fun +
19th July | Boston, MA – The Rockwell +
20th July | Montreal, QC – Theatre Fairmount +
26th July | Teulon, MB – Real Love Summer Festival
10th Oct | San Diego, CA – Soda Bar *
11th Oct | Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon *
12th Oct | San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill *
14th Oct | Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios *
16th Oct | Vancouver, BC – Wise Hall
17th Oct | Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s *
11th Nov | Maastricht, Netherlands – Muziekgieterij
12th Nov | Paris, France – Supersonic
13th Nov | Utrecht, Netherlands – Ekko
14th Nov | Groningen, Netherlands – Vera
16 Nov | Berlin, Germany – Hole44 (supporting METZ)
17th Nov | Hamburg, Germany – Aalhaus
19th Nov | Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
20th Nov | Glasgow, UK – Broadcast
21st Nov | Dublin, IR – The Workman’s Club
22nd Nov | Manchester, UK – YES (The Pink Room)
+ = w/ Mhaol
* = w/ Mind Shrine
^ = w/ Devon Welsh
Photo credit – Amy Fort