Photo: OK Pederson

Cola provoke positive action on the gliding jam “So Excited”, announce debut album

Cola – the band made up of Ought’s Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy alongside US Girls’ drummer Evan Cartwright – have announced that they’ll put out a debut album called Deep In View on May 20 through Fire Talk. We’ve previously heard the album opener “Blank Curtain” and now get to hear “So Excited”. Darcy explains its origin:

We would talk about this track as the ‘capstone’ of the Cola record. It was that song that we would warm up with and get tight on since it was one of the first to really come together, plus it’s fun to play. There are Cola songs of mine that predate this one but this was the one I was working on when Ben told me he was going to come back from grad school and we talked about jamming together. It clicked when we played it out with Evan and from there we decided to work on songs for a new project.

Stidworthy’s bassline is the glue and the gold of “So Excited”, pushing the song forward while also anchoring the band in a groove. Cola shuffle through the verses, Darcy almost monotone as he sings about “All these situations keep me feeling bound up instead” the band coiling tightly around him. When it comes to the chorus, Darcy and the band amp up the energy a bit, but it’s more a challenge than a celebration: “And if you are so excited / Then you are so invited / To take this stone and right it.” It smacks as an echo of Ought’s debut album, which challenged listeners to find satisfaction in their daily lives – now, 10 years on, Cola are challenging us to fight for those things that we’ve taken for granted for too long, and let slip.

Watch the video for “So Excited” or find it on streaming platforms.


Cola’s debut album Deep In View comes out on May 20 through Fire Talk (pre-order/save). You can find the project on Bandcamp and Instagram.