Cola have announced their sophomore album, The Gloss, which arrives June 14 via Fire Talk. The follow-up to 2021’s Deep in View includes the previously unveiled singles ‘Keys Down If You Stay’ and ‘Bitter Melon’, as well as a new song, ‘Pallor Tricks’. Check out a video for it below, and scroll down for the album cover and tracklist.
“The title ‘Pallor Tricks’ is obviously a play on ‘parlor tricks,'” the band’s Tim Darcy said in a statement. “The lyrics feature imagery from film sets and such. I suppose I was thinking of the kind of self-consciousness that can arise when a camera is rolling. I’ve always been particularly affected by the performances I (rarely) see on so-called ‘reality tv.’ The type of performance where a person is compelled into a kind of ‘hyper-real’ state where they summon grotesque approximations of emotion that are exaggerated but not elevated, as they are in art. I’m sure there’s lots of compelling stuff that goes on in those programs and I don’t mean to cast aspersions, this idea of performance simply became a jumping off point when we were writing this one. The song also cycles to a more sincere open chorus, a kind of musical juxtaposition.”
“The video by Craig Scheihing is not only a brilliant piece of film, it also mirrors some of these themes by presenting an array of screens and refracted 16mm dreamscapes alongside this kind of direct connection of Evan [Cartwright] and his girlfriend,” Darcy added.
The Gloss Cover Artwork:
The Gloss Tracklist:
1. Tracing Hallmarks
2. Pulling Quotes
3. Pallor Tricks
4. Albatross
5. Down to Size
6. Keys Down If You Stay
7. Reprise
8. Nice Try
9. Bell Wheel
10. Bitter Melon
