Cola - Cost Of Living Adjustment

Before even pressing play on this third record from Montreal outfit Cola, the group offer up some gallows humour. It is, they say, almost self-titled: ‘C.O.LA.’ being an acronym for ‘Cost Of Living Adjustment’ - an apparent reference to the fact that frontman Tim Darcy lost his home to the Los Angeles wildfires at the start of last year. That presumably laid the groundwork for him to spend time lyrically exploring the possibilities of socialism and community relative to the self-interested, late-capitalist society we actually live in.

Vocally, though, he actually does so less drolly than before, swapping out the sprechgesang that defied previous Cola albums, and his work with Ought. He’s still deadpan, but melodic with it; more Stephen Malkmus than Mark E. Smith. It’s a fitting shift for what is the lushest, most fleshed-out Cola record so far; it goes heavy on the reverb-laden guitar, particularly on post-punk-inflected standouts like ‘Hedgesitting’ and ‘Conflagration Mindset’. Elsewhere, the trio embrace some of the poppiest structures yet, with single ‘Haveluck Country’ a case in point, as well as breezy closer ‘Skywriter’s Sigh’. Tim has long prided himself on his minimalism, but on ‘Cost Of Living Adjustment’, he finds that adding a little extra colour to the palette is actually no bad thing.