TOPS has long been one of the favorite bands of contemporary soft-rock fans. If you liked Tennis or Real Estate it was quite difficult, quite unlikely, for you not to like at least one TOPS song. And they have a good handful of good songs.
One of the biggest fans of TOPS is Chris Cantalini, editor behind the blog Gorilla vs Bear. He says that Grimes told him about TOPS’ music for the first time and that TOPS has been his favorite band ever since. Gorilla vs Bear has its own label, Luminelle, and, through this label, the first solo reference by Jane Penny, singer of TOPS, will be released.
‘Surfacing’, Jane Penny’s first EP, comes out on April 5, and the first single is a little treasure of that soft-pop with keyboards that TOPS knows how to do very well. In Song of the Day, two elements merge in perfect harmony: the haze of the production, so enveloping, and Penny’s voice, pure sonic glue that improves any melody that falls on it.
‘Messages’ is a song about “getting notifications from everyone but the person you love.” Penny says that the sample that opens ‘Messages’ is taken from the “strange” voice messages left by credit card readers in Montreal taxis.
In the video for ‘Messages’, Penny searches for herself in Montreal, inspired by the 1943 noir film ‘Meshes Of The Afternoon’, by Maya Deren, and also of course by her own career, in her move from playing in a band to do it alone.
