New wave minimalists Cola lace their songs with winsome one-liners and societal commentary.
What's another word for commentary? Gloss, apparently. Never basic, the lyrics reward repeated listening for deeper meanings. David Berman's poetry-via-garage light pennings are an inspiration, as equally so are the lighter side of UK first-wave New Wave and the Dunedin sound. The results are in the pudding: at times sparse and poetic, at others a thrilling, hook-laden good time, as with the cheeky romantic sketch of a one-night stand that is so overflowing with innuendo-cum-journalism talk that it almost teeters over into self-parody. But the results are the right combination of lightheartedness and sincerity.
Cola - The Gloss
Rough Trade Exclusive LP+ on transparent honey colored vinyl. Limited to 200 copies.
We caught up with Cola at our NYC store for our newest session of Shoplifting. An invitation to roam the racks in pursuit of the recorded material which has most inspired and shaped their sound today. Be sure to check out their new album The Gloss out now on Fire Talk Records.
Evan: My first pick is Beverly Glenn-Copeland Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined. If anybody's familiar with the original album Keyboard Fantasies, it's an amazing record by Beverly Glynn Copeland. I feel like it showcases just some of his best songwriting ever. For this record, all these artists reimagined all the works off of the original Keyboard Fantasies. I chose this one particularly because of the last track, “Ghost House.” Jeremy Dutcher's version of that song is just unbelievable. It's harrowing. The performance is incredible. That's probably the most striking thing about this record. Love the reworking of “Ever Knew" by Joseph Shabason and Thom Gill, of course. I also chose this reissue of Money Jungle, which is the trio Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach. It's amazing, amazing work. The reason I think it's particularly special is because you so rarely hear Duke Ellington playing in a small ensemble. He's always playing with his band where the piano isn't really featured like his arrangements are. But he is an amazing, amazing pianist in a small ensemble setting, and on this record, you really hear his voice in a way that you don't on most of the recordings he's on. So it's a really special one.
Tim: I've got Suburban Lawns self-titled record. This is a record that I can keep going back to and finding little bizarre eccentricities and the playing is so manic and melodic and the dual vocalist thing is really sweet. I actually don't know the main singer's name, but she has just an incredible, incredible thing going on as a vocalist. So yeah, that one's a perennial favorite. I highly recommend it if anyone hasn't checked it out yet. Then I've also got Badge Époque Ensemble, Clouds of Joy. These guys are from Toronto.They're friends of ours and they just put out a string of incredible, kind of, modernization of library music. I think Max, the main dude, he's like got really deep into that world and sort of brought it into the present with inflections of hip hop. There's this really amazing collaborative spirit to the records. They're definitely hometown heroes for us in certain ways and just really inspiring as a collective in the way that they do things.
Ben: My first record is PVA’s Toner. They're friends of ours from London who we met recently when we did a fundraiser for medical aid for Palestinians at the Garage in London. They agreed to do it, and donated all of their fees, as all the other bands did. Their live show was absolutely stellar. So I just wanted to show them some love. Also, there's a Bay Area artist called Toner, which is an amazing name. Next I have Kneecap’s new album Fine Art. They're getting so much love right now, for political reasons, for standing up for what's right. Their music's amazing and I so desperately want to see them live. Also like repping for the Irish language at a time when it's really not doing so well and just being true Belfast working class party boys and being unashamed of it. So I hope they continue to grow and that their music helps people eventually give Ireland back the six counties.