Formless finds beauty, absurdity, humour, and unlikely joy in the bleakest of times. Cogan’s smoky, psychedelic approach to gothic country and hazy folk merges with post-punk, groove, psych rock, and traditional balladry. With a singular voice as much sensation as sound, Ora Cogan seeks out new realities within the smoke-and-mirrors labyrinth of our cruel society.

“Writing this album was a very much a lifeline… transformative and healing,” Cogan recalled. “Re-calibrating an internal compass constantly thrown off by the magnetism of a deranged world.” 

Recorded in mostly off-the-floor takes with rhythm section David Proctor and Finn Smith on analog tape at Vancouver Island’s Risque Disque studio and co-produced by Cogan and Loving’s David Parry, Formless features international guest stars including Cormac Mac Diarmada from LANKUM, who plays strings on “Feel Life,” and a duet with Y La Bamba on “Ways of Losing.”

Raised by a photojournalist and a musician on the islands of Canada’s Pacific coast, Cogan shaped her approach to music far from big-city scenes. Her childhood home played host to a constant stream of artists as it served as a professional recording studio. Cogan absorbed a myriad of influences growing up, from Ladino and Rumbetico to American country blues and outsider art all feeding into her glacial and cinematic yet tinglingly intimate sound.

Cogan has been crafting critically acclaimed records for years, earning her festival slots throughout Europe and North America, residencies in Italy and France, and shows with Mazzy Star and Grouper. Prolific and experimental, she’s collaborated with the likes of Frazey Ford, Skeena Reece and members of Big Brave.

Formless took form in the abyss of grief and pandemic isolation. “I spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly in the woods with my dog,” said Cogan. The result is an outpouring of ruminations on awkward love, pain, internal struggles, and a fight to find ways to feel good when everything goes bad.

Cogan and her close-knit band will support Formless with stateside touring as well as EU and UK dates in 2024. Her performances offer a vital antidote to the dystopian alienation of modern life, drawing overlapping audiences of folk, goth, pop, experimental, and even noise and punk fans together like some bizarre sonic/social Venn diagram.

“The result is an album of atmospheric expanded Americana – folkgaze, some might call it – that filters the derangement of the times through a hazy cloudland of serendipitous grooves and drowsy orchestration.” - The Line of Best Fit on Formless

“Spent many nights listening to this captivating music.” - Hope Sandoval, Mazzy Star

"Once again we are left in envy at the authentic vibe permeating from her psychedelic punk cult... like a David Lynch Twin Peaks dreamworld.” - The Wild Is Calling (on “Feel Life”)

“[Ora Cogan] and her band entwine the melody with modal guitar curlicues and distant vocals, yet somehow she sounds more alone than ever” - The New York Times (on “Katie Cruel”)

“Feel Life followed and sounded like it came from a different artist entirely with its driving post-punk beat and slicing guitars hearkening back to sounds not heard since the Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry.” - The Vancouver Sun (on “Feel Life)

"Powerful... a psych-folk droplet of blood blooming in a pool of water” - Paste (on “Katie Cruel")

“Over the years, Cogan has steadily crafted a gothic and cinematic approach to alt country and folk. Her latest string of albums have walked a careful line between shadowed folk intimacy and fractured sonic confessionals, bringing a hazy psychedelic edge tinged with a myriad of influences.” - Under The Radar

“...Imbued with stylistic range and memorable songs, Formless is further elevated through the clear confidence of its maker. It’s a warm, inviting listen.” - The Vinyl District

"Formless is a record rich with atmosphere and possessed of powerful songs delivered with rare subtlety and grace. Rather than relying on pop hooks or heavy dynamics, the album’s light-footedly enchanting textures gently pull us in (ever more with repeat listens) to the steady, smooth catharsis of Cogan’s understatedly beautiful songs.” - Ghost Cult

"Sonically, the album builds upon Ora Cogan’s previous record Bells in the Ruins, blurring the distinctions between dream pop, psych, country and folk to create a sound rooted in traditional balladry yet constantly pushing boundaries."  - Various Small Flames

“Revised for the album, with new expanded arrangements, the ethereal alt-country song nevertheless retains its bucolic charm and celestial voices à la Enya or Cocteau Twins.” - High Clouds (on “Dyed)

"A sedate jam that’s slow in the way late night always is, the air clouded with one too many cigarettes, something like panic or regret building with a slow drip. But counter to this rising sensation is a sense of distance too. The track plays as a half dream, an out of body experience, a survey of those things felt so keenly at every other hour of the day as taken from above." - Various Small Flames (on "Cowgirl)

“Ora Cogan draws from a wide web of influence, but – truly – she sounds like no other.” CLASH Magazine

Cogan can be strikingly sparse and overwhelmingly composed in the same sublime breath. She summons orchestral waves of violins and rolling psychedelic guitars, propelled forward by a voice that sweeps audiences away under a tsunami of blissful sonic complexity. - Sled Island Festival

Multi-instrumentalist Ora Cogan makes gorgeous experimental folk compositions laced with hints of psychedelia, chamber pop, and rock. - She Shreds

While her lyrics focus on corporate greed and environmental degradation, her transcendent arrangements provide relief and hope. - Bandcamp

Ora’s music is effortlessly extravagant. This is not music made for passive listening, rather, it is something that needs to be experienced. Discorder Magazine

“Cogan’s drawl evokes the tone of Karen Dalton and the technique of John Martyn.” - The Wire