Deep in View

After a solid run of excellent albums and an evolving sound, Montreal art punk band Ought called it a day, though not before some of its members had already begun work on new offshoot project Cola. Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy developed a particular sound as half of Ought, but they turned away from that often blustering and emphatic approach toward a more stripped-down post-punk sound on Deep in View, the first full-length album from Cola. Joined by drummer Evan Cartwright, Darcys droll lead vocals and spare guitar work and Stidworthys propulsive bass lines create a hypnotic whole that conceals its strange angles in straightforward, repetitive structures. The steady pulse that flows through Deep in View is established on opening track "Blank Curtain," a pushy midtempo groover with swampy guitar leads and drums so tight and unchanging they could be mistaken for a drum machine. In Ought, Darcys vocals were sometimes similarly deadpan, but they often took on a yelpy excitement in line with the more volatile Mark E. Smith performances or the slippery verbiage of Life Without Buildings. Theres none of that with Cola, even in their relatively charged moments. The ironically titled "So Excited" has a jumpy instrumental but finds Darcy muttering his vocals in a recitation style similar to Protomartyrs Joe Casey, speak-singing the verses before the spindly melody of the chorus kicks in. This undemonstrative approach doesnt detract from the albums energy, but instead works as a tension-building element as Cola keep their songs perpetually simmering. The tight control exhibited throughout Deep in View takes the form of captivating Joy Division-esque drum parts and abstract pop minimalism on "Water Table," dissonant droning on "Mint," and complex time signatures on the interlocking elements of "Degree." Stidworthys bass parts are the driving melodic force throughout Deep in View, and the bass cuts through the mix on most songs as the rest of the sounds come together around it. The restrained, sharply constructed nature of the tracks conceals how unexpected some of Colas choices are. This can be as subtle as an obtuse drum pattern or as blatant as the bleary shuffle of "Fulton Park" appearing out of nowhere. The song sounds like a time-traveling collaboration between Pink Flag-era Wire and Spoon, but it takes a few spins to realize how weird it is arriving after eight tracks of streamlined, high-precision post-punk. Deep in View is a sturdy, engaging, and highly listenable debut that feels less like a continuation of Ought and more like a new path branching off some of their best work. ~ Fred Thomas