Cola

Cola: The Gloss [CD]

Cola: Deep in View [CD]

“Bitter Melon” is a new zine housing a flexi single of the same name by Fire Talk recording artist Cola. Flip the pages to reveal a new world, symbols both modern and ancient, just a taste of what’s to come. “Bitter Melon” creates a trance-like atmosphere of repetition and lingering, falling in and out of form. With roots in Montreal, Cola was formed by ex-Ought members Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy, and Evan Cartwright who had played with U.S. Girls and the Weather Station, among others. From their inception, they brought together the spartan d.i.y. ethic of Dischord or SST working punks with an ear toward the modern.

Cost of Living Adjustment is the sort-of self-titled album from Cola, the Montreal trio of Tim Darcy (vocals/guitar), Ben Stidworthy (bass), and Evan Cartwright (percussion). C.O.L.A. - an acronym for Cost of Living Adjustment - is a fitting conceptual framework for the band's third record. Why? Because C.O.L.A. considers, among other things, socialism vs. hell. It considers: rolling the dice of life. The erie and sweet pangs that nostalgia can provoke. Following two studio LPs which earned the trio praise from Rolling Stone (Best Indie Rock Albums of 2024), Pitchfork (Best Rock Albums of 2024), Stereogum (Best Songs of 2022) and more, Cost of Living Adjustment is abstract, oblique, sometimes strange, whatever you want to call it. But it is also beautiful, in the classic sense. Beautiful like a painting can be beautiful. It touches on the sublime. It is Cola, the band, at their very best.