Cola

Montreal trio Cola approach their knotty post-punk songs from unpredictable angles, their stripped-down instrumentation creating hypnotic cycles from minimal elements. The band formed in tandem with the dissolution of the founding members’ former long-running act Ought, and shortly after coming into being, Cola released their debut album Deep in View in 2022.
Cola is made up of guitarist/vocalist Tim Darcy, bassist Ben Stidworthy, and drummer Evan Cartwright. Darcy and Stidworthy were active with Montreal art rock band Ought for the majority of the 2010s, and Cartwright also played with U.S. Girls. Though Ought didn’t make their breakup public until November of 2021, Darcy and Stidworthy had been working on material for the project that eventually became Cola as early as 2018. They foresaw the end of Ought long before sharing their next moves, going so far as completing the recording process for the first Cola material before letting fans know that one band was done and another had arrived. They shared their first single, the sharp and droning “Blank Curtain,” in November of 2021 and released their first LP, Deep in View, in May of 2022. ~ Fred Thomas