The Zolas are a Canadian indie rock band based in Vancouver, British Columb… Read Full Bio ↴The Zolas are a Canadian indie rock band based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The core of the band is duo Zachary Gray (vocals/guitar) and Tom Dobrzanski (piano), with other musicians supporting them live and on record.

There’s something happening on the west coast. Whether it’s in the air, the water, or the drugs, a pool of talent has formed around the notion that you can have your pop and eat it too, with brainy, prog-influenced weird-beards like Bend Sinister and arcane psycho-confectioners Mother Mother demonstrating that musical complexity can still be hummable. Commercial, even.

Throw the Zolas into the picture and dammit – you might even call it a scene! Not that it’s ever been a concern to long-term musical partners Zach Gray and Tom Dobrzanski, who established their gifts for intricate songcraft three years ago under the name Lotus Child.

Since then, the duo has finessed its formula into something even busier yet no less direct, filling their new album Tic Toc Tic with hairpin turns, schizoid tonal shifts, multiple parts, and a sort of cabaret strut.

Miraculously, between New Pornographers vet Howard Redekopp’s unfinicky production and the clarity of Gray and Dobrzanski’s vision, Tic Toc Tic works like a charm. Complex without being alienating, it aims equally and with dead-eyed precision for the head, heart, and groin.

Guitarist-vocalist Gray hits on the twin poles that define Tic Toc Tic when he reveals an equal passion for the visceral Scandinavian dream pop of Mew, whose influence is obvious, and the classic music hall rag of the Kinks, whose influence is anything but. Not on first listen, anyway, though the presence of Ray Davies is felt in Gray’s lyrics. Particularly when he turns his attention to the mundane, like the character in “You’re Too Cool” who wrestles with his vulnerability at Vancouver’s hipster HQ the Biltmore. Or the confessional “Body Ash”, which documents a relationship on the ropes. The directness of its sentiment echoes what Gray describes as Davies’ “populism”.

“The first words in ‘Body Ash’ are ‘my balls’,” he laughs. “Literally. I’m not hiding behind any metaphors.” Soundwise, Gray says he was aiming for “self-conscious Jeff Buckley”, which also goes some way towards describing a lot of the music on Tic Toc Tic.

Boxing the listener with their virtuosity right off the top, opener “You’re Too Cool” is six minutes of fortified waltz-time piano dissolving into what Gray characterizes as an “anti-chorus”. “The Great Collapse” is swaggering and deceptively sunny power-pop for apocalyptic future scenarios. “Marlaina Kamikaze” bounces between big band stickwork from drummer Ali Siadat, braying trumpet, and a decadent stride-piano breakdown.

Meanwhile, “You Better Watch Out” has Gray anguishing over a cute girl on a bus while cascading piano arpeggios and Aidan Knight’s hyperactive bass push his suffering to operatic levels of high drama. “Queen of Relax” is featherlite prog, and “Cab Driver” somehow contrives to be both the most straightforward number on Tic Toc Tic, and the most demanding. “It’s the most fun to play,” says Dobrzanski, who caps the song with a libidinous boogie-woogie throwdown sizzling enough to give “Honky Cat” era Elton a case of pianist envy. “It’s a rock-out,” he continues. “I like the athleticism involved in parts of it. It’s actually work.”

If “Cab Driver” finds the Zolas in an almost conventional mood, “I’ve Got Leeches” and album closer “Pyramid Scheme” both explore the fringes of the songwriting team’s expanding universe. Gray describes the first as “baroque” and “Bowie-esque”, while the latter, he admits perhaps a little freely, “is the track where we don’t care if anyone ever listens to it.” As such, it includes what Gray calls “a vaguely Maori, haunted house, war chant section.” Deadpans Dobrzanski, “That moment might come across as a bit out there.”

In truth, Tic Toc Tic is a little out there from bar one to its closing outburst of unbound inspiration. Perhaps it has something to do with the duo’s seasoned friendship – they met as choirboys in Grade 9 – or a working relationship that begins with Gray broadstroking ideas and passing them along to Dobrzanski, his classical musically inclined “details guy”.

Whatever alchemical thing lies beneath the sparkling progressive pop of Tic Toc Tic, the partnership has made its great leap forward. It’s our job to catch up. And we should consider it a pleasure.

Local Swan
The Zolas Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

In Montreal’s tiny pond
she and I we smoulder
the local swan, my amazon
with coathanger shoulders

My god, it’s a mirage; she’s booking to go.
I’ll swim the St. Laurent cause I lost her and I succumb.

When all your nights are starry blurs
will you remember me?
When all your friends are photographers
will you remember me?

I refuse
to reminisce
needle cracks and tape hiss.
Blue tattoos of the things I miss
are they bruise or cicatrice?
oh no, fear the plateau
there’s no up or down
costars and Hollywood tsars they flood my mind and I drown

Walking by your window, I called you for the first time
“yeah, the one who spilled my drink on you last night.”
and in my underlit apartment, you let me paint you by the flame.
I’ve painted you a hundred times and still can’t sign my name.

When all your nights are starry blurs
will you remember me?
When all your friends are photographers
will you remember me?
the scene is set to see your face
on every silver screen.

When all you need is a hiding place
will you remember me?

Overall Meaning

The Zolas’ song, “Local Swan,” is a tale about love, loss, and the struggle to hold onto memories. The lyrics open with a vivid image of the singer and his lover, the “local swan,” lounging by a pond in Montreal. The juxtaposition of her beauty with her “coathanger shoulders” suggests a vulnerability that incites the singer’s protective instincts. However, despite his efforts, she slips away, leaving him stranded and desperate to find her. In the chorus, the singer poses the question of whether she will remember him once she’s gone, surrounded by the glamour and fame of her future.

The middle section of the song is a poignant reflection on the ephemeral nature of art and memory. The singer is haunted by the fear that the memories of the moments they shared together will fade away with time. He refuses to indulge in nostalgia and instead focuses on the present: the “needle cracks and tape hiss” represent the gritty, real world in which he finds himself. The tattoos he has serve as constant reminders of what he’s lost and what remains. As the chorus comes in again, it’s clear that the singer is struggling to keep his beloved close to him, knowing that their time together is limited and fleeting.

“Local Swan” is a complex and layered song that explores the themes of love, loss, and the passage of time. It speaks to the universal human desire to hold onto the moments that make life worth living, even as they inevitably slip away. The imagery is vivid, and the use of metaphor creates a sense of mystery and longing that draws the listener in. Ultimately, the song is a haunting reminder of the fleeting nature of life and the preciousness of the memories we hold onto.

Line by Line Meaning

In Montreal’s tiny pond
This line sets the setting of the song as a small pond in Montreal

she and I we smoulder
The singer and another person have a passionate connection and chemistry

the local swan, my amazon
The person the singer is referring to is compared to a powerful, majestic animal

with coathanger shoulders
The person being described has narrow or bony shoulders

My god, it’s a mirage; she’s booking to go.
The person being described has suddenly left, and the artist is surprised and disappointed

I’ll swim the St. Laurent cause I lost her and I succumb.
The singer is so desperate to find the person they've lost that they would swim a large body of water

When all your nights are starry blurs
The singer wonders if the person they're talking to will remember them when they're famous and their life is a blur

will you remember me?
The artist is questioning whether the person they're addressing will remember them in the future

When all your friends are photographers
The artist is imagining a future where the person they're talking to is surrounded by artistic people

I refuse
The artist indicates that they don't want to engage in something

to reminisce
The singer doesn't want to relive past memories or experiences

needle cracks and tape hiss.
The artist describes the sound of old, worn-out records

Blue tattoos of the things I miss
The singer is expressing longing and nostalgia for something or someone they've lost

are they bruise or cicatrice?
The singer is questioning whether their feelings of nostalgia and loss hurt them like a bruise or have turned into a permanent scar

oh no, fear the plateau
The singer expresses fear of being stuck in one place or not making progress

there’s no up or down
The artist feels like they're directionless or lost

costars and Hollywood tsars they flood my mind and I drown
The artist is overwhelmed with thoughts of Hollywood and fame, and feels like they're drowning

Walking by your window, I called you for the first time
The singer is recalling a first encounter with the person they're addressing

“yeah, the one who spilled my drink on you last night.”
The singer is reminding the person they're talking to who they are

and in my underlit apartment, you let me paint you by the flame.
The artist describes a situation where they painted the person they're addressing in their dimly-lit apartment

I’ve painted you a hundred times and still can’t sign my name.
The artist has created many works of art inspired by the person they're addressing, but still struggles with expressing themselves fully

the scene is set to see your face
The artist is imagining a scenario where the person they're addressing becomes famous

on every silver screen.
The singer imagines the person they're addressing becoming a movie star

When all you need is a hiding place
The artist wonders if the person they're addressing will remember them when they need comfort or refuge

will you remember me?
The singer is questioning whether the person they're addressing will remember them in different situations and circumstances

Contributed by Hannah M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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