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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) – http://fritzmagnets.com/outside.html
Tour Dates:
February 7th | Kanazawa, JP | Artgummi
February 8th | Osaka, JP | Chika Ikkai
February 9th | Hiroshima, JP | 092 Banquet
February 10th | Fukuoka, JP | Utero
February 11th | Kumamoto, JP | Navaro
February 12th | Kobe, JP | Helluva Lounge
February 13th | Kyoto, JP | Metro
February 14th | Tokushima, JP | Crowbar
February 15th | Hamamatsu, JP | Kirchherr
February 16th | Nagoya, JP | KD Japon
February 17th | Tochigi, JP | Hello Dolly
February 18th | Sendai, JP | Space Zero & NeoBrotherz
February 19th | Tokyo, JP | O-Nest
February 20th | Tokyo, JP | Fever (late night party)
February 22nd | Los Angeles, CA | The Echo (All Ages Early Show) – TICKETS
February 23rd | San Fransisco, CA | Brick & Mortar – TICKETS
February 25th | Portland, OR | Mississippi Studios – TICKETS
February 27th | Vancouver, BC | The Biltmore – TICKETS
February 28th | Mexico, DF | Deportivo Lomas Atlas (NRMAL Festival) – TICKETS
March 5th | Minneapolis, MN | Icehouse – TICKETS
March 6th | Chicago, IL | Subterranean – TICKETS
March 7th | Detroit, MI | UFO Factory – TICKETS
March 8th | Toronto, ON | Smiling Buddha – TICKETS
March 9th | Hamilton, ON | Baltimore House – TICKETS
March 12th | Dallas, TX | Three Links (Red Bull Sound Select Dallas: Curated by Gorilla vs Bear) – TICKETS
March 13th | Waltham, MA | Chums
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 11th | Birmingham, UK | The Hare & Hounds – TICKETS
May 12th | Bristol, Avon, UK | Start The Bus – TICKETS
May 13th | Manchester, UK | Gullivers – TICKETS
May 14th | London, UK | Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club – TICKETS
May 19th | Luxembourg, LU | De Gudde Wëllen – TICKETS
May 20th | Rotterdam, NL | WORM – TICKETS
May 21st | Hamburg, DE | Aalhaus – TICKETS
May 23rd | Mannheim, DE | Maifield Derby Festival – TICKETS
May 24th | Dortmund, DE | Way Back When Festival – TICKETS
May 26th | Prague, CZ | 007 Club Strahov – TICKETS
May 27th | Leipzig, DE | Goldhorn
May 28th | Berlin, DE | Privat Club – TICKETS
May 30th | Copenhagen, DK | Vega (Ideal Bar) – TICKETS
June 1st | Stockholm, SE | Lilla Hotellbaren – TICKETS
June 3rd | Amsterdam, NL | OT301 – 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.
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