![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/topsss-1024x679.jpg\")
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by Chris Bryson<\/b><\/p>\n
Not many bands can make music that moves with such elegance, ease, and bounce as TOPS. Surely this is no easy feat, as the band has been honing their formula over the course of three albums, plus another in progress. Last year\u2019s <\/span>Sugar at the Gate,<\/span><\/i> TOPS\u2019 third full-length,<\/span> found the band pushing their soft indie rock a la mellow disco-funk into a further refined breezy luster.<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier in the year, Jane Penny, singer and keyboardist for TOPS, spent a couple months in Berlin. Since then she says she\u2019s been thinking about spending more time there, and has been. The band was originally working on their new album in Montreal when unexpected circumstances made it so a couple of them had to move out of the home they were living and recording in. So after finishing up a tour in Europe, Penny decided to stick around in Berlin for a while. And it\u2019s there that she and the rest of TOPS have continued to work on their next album. Speaking over Facetime Audio, <\/span>Stylus<\/span><\/i> chatted with Penny about what\u2019s been in the works.<\/span><\/p>\n Penny explains how they\u2019re \u201clike a 5-piece band now with the writing and recording,\u201d finding this to be one of the most exciting aspects of the new album so far.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo we actually have been going into studios and doing stuff off the floor, which is really fun. And yeah I think that approach is going to have a pretty big impact on it,\u201d says Penny. \u201cAlso just like we\u2019re trying to do it in kind of a condensed fashion I would say. We\u2019ve been trying to do it in a few months. Because everyone is kind of spread out like Riley (Fleck, drums) stayed in L.A. after we made our last record and stuff so we kind of all came together and we\u2019re writing like a song a day and just kind of really slammin\u2019 it out for awhile. Which is actually really fun and surprisingly I think a very productive way to do it, rather than spending months and months and months drawing it out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Talking about intent behind lyrics and what she chooses to put out into the world, Penny says that \u201cI guess I feel it\u2019s kind of like a lead by example of just being a positive, sincere, sensitive person, and then have the songs kind of be the same where people have something they can connect to. I feel like people connecting to each other is really important, so I guess that\u2019s probably the main thing. I don\u2019t know if I could take credit for doing anything beyond that really.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Having played Real Love Summer Fest with TOPS in 2016, Penny seems to be looking forward to their return to headline this year. \u201cWe had a lot of fun there so that was a big part of why we wanted to do it when they offered this show because I remember it being a really nice atmosphere and really cool people and just like a good time,\u201d remarks Penny. \u201cI feel like these kind of forest fest things, especially like in Canada are really relaxing kind of like a getaway style of thing. You usually don\u2019t have cell phone service. Everyone\u2019s kind of in it together. It\u2019s a nice vacation\/show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When talking about how her perspectives have changed since being in TOPS, Penny says that \u201cI guess one thing I\u2019ve been thinking about lately is when I first started with music and maybe just being younger I always wanted to prove that I could do something or was always trying to get better, like practice, practice, I wanted to learn how to do this, that. And I still am trying to seek out knowledge but I\u2019m kind of more relaxed about the way that I approach things and I\u2019m feeling more and more like I\u2019m just doing things for myself or that I like.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI guess maybe the more you do things the less you feel the need to show that you can do them. And that can be a freeing thing,\u201d explains Penny. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know if that has to do with music or just generally feeling more comfortable. But definitely I feel like TOPS, that people appreciate it gives you the confidence to not overthink things as much. And you can kind of just be more inspired and follow that kind of energy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Catch TOPS ending off Saturday night at the Real Love Summer Fest, sending their glittering warmth out to the festival goers and midnight sky.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Chris Bryson Not many bands can make music that moves with such elegance, ease, and bounce as TOPS. Surely this is no easy feat, as the band has been honing their formula over the course of three albums, plus another in progress. Last year\u2019s Sugar at the Gate, TOPS\u2019 third full-length, found the band […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1304,101,229,1305,412,453,1276,535,632,747,783,806,1303,1302,1104],"class_list":["post-11170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-80s","tag-berlin","tag-dance","tag-disco","tag-guitar","tag-indie","tag-jangle","tag-la","tag-montreal","tag-pop","tag-real-love","tag-rock","tag-smooth","tag-tops","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11172,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11170\/revisions\/11172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}