TOPS – Further

For their upcoming album ‘Sugar At The Gates’, Montreal’s TOPS relocated from Canada to Los Angeles. There, they decamped to a mini-mansion known as “Glamdale”, a former brothel situated within the Glendale area. Lead vocalist Jane Penny described the experience of moving to LA as being like “living out a teenage fantasy”, yet the music that they’ve revealed so far from their new record is far from being fantastical. Latest single ‘Further’ keeps TOPS’ signature, floaty dream-pop sound, shimmering with light, vintage electronica and feathery, jazzy percussion, still as refined and engaging as ever. Yet, it’s also one of the band’s most emotionally open tracks to date. The first line of the whole track is a lament that “it’s all over now”, accompanied by a melancholic guitar strum heralding a change in mood. “Is it time to start again?” Jane muses, understanding that “I know I’ll never win”. She repeats the lines “I just can’t let it go/ I just can’t let it die”, brimming with sincerity and yet fully in the knowledge that she’s fighting a losing battle. TOPS are still the dreamy indie-pop band we know and love, but ‘Further’ demonstrates how the band have become much more true to themselves. Instead of veiling themselves in the fantasy of Los Angeles, the move seems only to have made them more emotionally raw and engaging.