Ottawa, Canada. Indie pop? Sure, slap a label on it if you want. But this track—”ALOHA!“—has got more guts than half the “rock” bands out there right now. Why? Because it’s not about the distortion pedals. It’s about the attitude.
Here’s the deal: Wotts just became a solo outfit. His partner Ricky—crazy talented, y’all know—left the project. And Wotts was ready to pack it in. Done. Finished. He wrote “ALOHA!” thinking it might be his swan song. He’d always felt more comfortable hiding behind other people. Without Ricky? He couldn’t imagine doing this alone.
But then months passed. And he said something every rock fan should tattoo on their knuckles: “I eventually just said fuck it, why not keep at it?“
THERE’S your rock moment right there.
“ALOHA!” is the final single off the EP COPE, and it’s a perfect bookend. It’s about letting go of what was, accepting what is, and stepping into whatever comes next. Wotts wasn’t trying to force a big moment. He was pretty sure he was done with music, and he accepted it. Then the universe did its thing. And now? He still gets a rush making music. He still has songs to write.
It’s got that psych pop fog that Wotts has leaned into for years. But don’t let the dreaminess fool you. This is the sound of someone staring into the void and shrugging. Not crying. Not begging. Just… moving forward.
COPE is about living alongside loss—the small things you do to adapt, the new routines you build to keep going. Its predecessor FLANK! focused on loss itself and the emptiness. COPE is what comes after. And “ALOHA!” ties the whole arc together while quietly opening the door to whatever’s next.
“ALOHA!” might not have screaming guitars. But it’s got something rarer: honest-to-god resilience. Play the reverb. Roll down the windows. And say “fuck it” right along with him.
This isn’t the end of Wotts. It’s a new beginning.