Cola – Haveluck Country
Cola have been rolling out singles from Cost of Living Adjustment (Fire Talk, May 9) at a steady pace: we covered Hedgesitting (W08) and Conflagration Mindset (W12) earlier in the year. “Haveluck Country” arrives as the final pre-release single, and it lands differently from both: bouncier, more relaxed, Tim Darcy’s voice sitting loosely over staccato guitars while Ben Stidworthy and Evan Cartwright keep things moving without forcing urgency.
Lyrically it circles privilege and luck, or more precisely who gets to inhabit that comfortable space Cola calls the “haveluck country”. Darcy’s lines move from the banal to the surreal: drugstore vitamins, diplomatic immunity, the “shining city on the hill”. The imagery is deliberately scattered, and it works because the music underneath never oversells the point. What I find interesting is how much the track achieves with restraint: the groove carries the weight of the satire without needing to shout it.
The band worked again with filmmakers Camille Anais Semprez and Cedar Teionietathe Jocks, who previously directed the “So Excited” video for Cola’s debut. They shot on a western movie set in the desert at night. The band’s own framing of it is worth quoting: “What does it mean to live in the Haveluck Country anyways? The ‘red right hand’ could be of a gunslinger swinging a gun arm out in earnest—or pure camp. A metaphor for an archaic political climate. Who needs vaccines anyways? Take your vitamins. Is the sun perhaps setting on the old west? Is the pathetic and imaginary political promise of the ‘shining city on the hill’ vacant and empty as a western saloon façade?” It reads a bit like the song itself: a string of questions that don’t fully resolve, which seems intentional.
A tour follows the album, with dates across Australia in June, North America in July, and Europe in October and November. I put this one on the list because the album campaign has been strong, and this closing single holds its own without trying to be the loudest thing in the room.
Tour Dates:
Oceania:
- June 10 – Wollongong, AU @ La La La’s
- June 11 – Canberra, AU @ UC Hub
- June 13 – Newcastle, AU @ The Hamilton Station Hotel
- June 14 – Sydney, AU @ Mary’s Underground
- June 17 – Adelaide, AU @ The Ed Castle
- June 18 – Melbourne, AU @ The Thornbury Theatre
- June 19 – Castlemaine, AU @ The Bridge Hotel
- June 20 – Brisbane, AU @ Against The Grain Festival
North America:
- July 8 – Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall
- July 9 – Detroit, MI @ Lager House
- July 10 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
- July 11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Zhora Darling
- July 12 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
- July 14 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
- July 15 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
- July 16 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
- July 17 – Ridgewood, NY @ TV Eye
- July 18 – New York, NY @ Night Club 101
- July 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
- July 21 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
- July 22 – Portland, ME @ Oxbow
- July 23 – Brattleboro, VT @ Stone Church
- July 24 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
Europe:
- Oct. 28 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
- Oct. 29 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotwown
- Oct. 30 – Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling (Paradiso)
- Oct. 31 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
- Nov. 2 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
- Nov. 3 – London, UK @ The Garage
- Nov. 4 – York, UK @ The Crescent
- Nov. 5 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
- Nov. 6 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK @ Brave Exhibitions (The Cluny)
- Nov. 7 – Salford, UK @ The White Hotel
- Nov. 10 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus
- Nov. 11 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
- Nov. 13 – Gothenburg, SE @ Oceanen
- Nov. 14 – Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7
- Nov. 16 – Malmö, SE @ Plan B
- Nov. 18 – Bredsten, DK @ Engelsholm Højskole
