Ought is a Canadian post-punk and noise rock group from Montréal. It forms in 2011 and is based around Tim Darcy, Tim Keen and Ben Stidworthy. Darcy is a guitarist and vocalist; Keen plays drums and violin. The band also begins with Matt May on keyboards in its early apartment-based line-up, but the current named members are Darcy, Keen and Stidworthy.

Formation and early activity

The group starts when Darcy, originally a folk musician from New Hampshire, joins with Matt May, who comes from New Jersey, and Tim Keen, an Australian émigré. They share an apartment that also serves as a rehearsal space. Ben Stidworthy, who moves from Portland, Oregon, later joins on bass.

Ought plays its first show and records its first EP, New Calm EP, in the apartment’s largest bedroom in summer 2012. Around the same period, the band appears on Montréal’s loft circuit and performs in the city streets during the Printemps d’Erable Quebec student general strike.

Recordings and releases

After another recording session in early 2013, the band releases a second EP through Bandcamp. In fall 2013, Ought spends several days at Hotel2Tango studio with engineer Radwan Moumneh, whose credits include Suuns, Matana Roberts and Jerusalem In My Heart. Constellation invites the band to record there, and the resulting songs, both new and old, make up its first full-length album.

More Than Any Other Day is released by Constellation in 2014. A four-track EP follows later that year. The release Once More With Feeling... appears as a 10-inch and in digital form, and Pill serves as its title track.

Style and labels

Ought is associated with post-punk and noise rock, and releases material through Constellation.

Later activity

The group announces that it splits in 2021. Afterward, Darcy and Stidworthy form Cola with drummer Evan Cartwright.