NeuFutur Magazine / neufutur.com: Tops Announce Spring 2015 Tour Dates

Following up on last year’s excellent sophomore LP Picture You Staring, Montreal’s TOPS are back to announce new tour dates in Japan, North America, and Europe. To celebrate the band is also sharing a new and interactive video for “Outside” starring lead singer Jane Penny.

Speaking on the video, director Fantavious Fritz said “Outside is one of my favourite tracks! It carries such sublime simplicity and unity, like a well-curated collage or painting of sounds. This website came out of a desire to experiment with the internet as a medium and visually portray this idea of collage with video / performance. In ‘Outside’, the internet serves as a canvas for play with colours, shapes and moving kinetic form, allowing for many different viewings of the piece.”

Watch: “Outside” (Interactive version) - fritzmagnets.com/outside.html

Tour Dates:

March 14th | Brooklyn, NY | Baby’s All Right (late night) – TICKETS

March 19th | Quebec, QC | Le Cercle – TICKETS

March 20th | Montreal, QC | Le Ritz PDB – TICKETS

May 27th | Leipzig, DE | Goldhorn

May 28th | Berlin, DE | Privat Club – TICKETS

About TOPS:

TOPS are a four-piece band from Montreal, equal parts girls and guys, delivering a raw punk take on AM studio pop. Their new record, Picture You Staring, is a lush array of timelessly crafted songs.

Picture You Staring gathers strength through intimacy. Self-written, recorded, produced, and the result of 12 months holed up in Arbutus Records’ Montreal office-space turned studio, this album contains 12 impeccable examples of pop craftsmanship that will reward repeat listeners.

Singer Jane Penny gives a voice to the silent girl at the edge of the circle, disillusioned but honest and unpretentious, a tone complemented by David Carriere’s seamless guitar playing and the measured drumming of Riley Fleck. TOPS’ songs are delivered with a cool restraint that blend with the individuality and self-assured desire of their female lead.

David and Jane met in middle school, but didn’t stay in touch until they reunited in Montreal where they’ve been collaborating since 2009. Unintentionally initiating a pop music scene in Montreal, their strange homemade recordings have gained an international following. In 2011 they were joined Riley Fleck and started jamming at the loft space La Brique where they wrote and recorded their first record, Tender Opposites. TOPS continue to engineer and produce their own records and make their own videos in collaboration with fellow artists and filmmakers. In opposition to commercially driven pop music, TOPS pursuit lies in creating moving songs that succeed earnestly, disregarding trends and myth-making.

Jane, David and Riley have equal footing with their respective instruments and their sparring exceeds the imagination of any individual. For their new record TOPS have enlisted Madeline Glowicki to play bass. Like Jane and David, Madeline grew up in Edmonton, Alberta and went to the same elementary as Jane. A natural musician, and contributor to the Editorial

magazine, the band are happy to have another prairie girl on board. LA-based painter Jessica Dean Harrison created the artwork especially for the release. It is a conceptual interpretation of the record’s title, continued in a large poster depicting a group scene, included with the purchase of a vinyl record.