Cola – Cost of Living Adjustment
As the Montreal outfit Cola release their third album, the former Ought members are steadfastly standing on their own terms
Since their 2022 debut, Montreal trio Cola have largely been spoken of in terms of being ex-members of indie darlings Ought. However, with their latest record, Cost of Living Adjustment, they've now equalled their previous project’s three records, steadfastly standing on their own terms.
While Cola possess two of Ought’s distinctive qualities: Tim Darcy’s alluring squall and Ben Stidworthy’s slinky basslines, joining forces with U.S. Girls’ drummer Evan Cartwright has proved a fruitful collaboration, across two excellent previous albums as a power trio. Their latest offering maintains that intriguing interplay between the three, producing songs interwoven with rich detail and a razor-sharp tightness that few of their contemporaries can match.
Lead single Hedgesitting displays this brilliantly, doubling up a drum loop with a live take as Darcy and Stidworthy dance across Cartwright’s polyrhythms, while Haveluck Country boils this formula down to an even simpler recipe driven by a suspenseful syncopation until Darcy’s wrought-out chords release the tension.
Not everything here works; the album’s middle section gets a little too bogged down in the weeds to the point of distraction. However, the final stretch sees a thrilling switch to route one, such as the climax of Third Double or the excellent Favoured Over The Ride.
Listen to: Hedgesitting, Third Double, Favoured Over The Ride