TOPS – Annihilation
Montréal band TOPS shares “Annihilation,” the latest single from their forthcoming album Bury The Key due August 22nd via Ghostly International.
Born of a different process than most TOPS songs, “Annihilation” started with a drum part from Riley Fleck before the rest of the band wrote to it, the result is a fill-heavy song that is lyrically inspired navigating a world on the edge of collapse. Speaking about the song, the band shares:
“It’s easy to fear the future but in the end nothing is ever finished and you just gotta follow your heart. It’s like a mix of complacency and surrendering. As we were working on it a lot of cultural ‘greats’ were passing away. People like Sinead O’Connor and Ryuichi Sakamoto have been incredibly influential on our music and it’s sad to think that they’re on their way to being forgotten. We added a part that’s meant to be a wink to ‘Behind the Mask’ by YMO.”
TOPS — musicians Jane Penny, David Carriere, Marta Cikojevic and Riley Fleck — write timeless music that reliably threads immediacy and depth. Bury the Key, their first full-length since 2020 and with new label home Ghostly International, is a captivating reintroduction for the Montréal band: ever refined, undoubtedly masters of their melodic craft yet unafraid of evolving and testing themselves against different, at times darker tones.
Bury The Key faces feelings once locked away, engaging the give-and-take between happiness, hedonism, and self-destruction. While often inhabited by fictional figures, their glowing, grooving, self-produced songs draw from personal observations: intimacy (both inside and outside the band), toxic behavior, drug use, and apocalyptic dread. When recording started, they noticed a shift and leaned in, jokingly dubbed “evil TOPS,” says Penny. “We’re always kind of seen as a soft band or like naive or friendly in a Canadian way, but we made it a challenge to really channel the world around us.” Through the lens of a looming epoch and the clarity that comes with age, TOPS dip into a more sinister disco realm with Bury the Key, giving their soft-focus sophisti-pop a sharpened edge.
9/4 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
9/5 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
9/6 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile (EARLY SHOW)
9/8 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
9/9 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
9/11 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada – Outdoor Stage
9/12 – Houston, TX @ Heights Theater
9/14 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
9/15 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
9/17 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
9/18 – San Diego, CA @ Belly Up
9/19 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
9/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether
10/1 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/2 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
10/3 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
10/4 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
10/6 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
10/7 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall
10/8 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/9 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
10/11 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
10/14 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
10/16 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
10/17 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
10/18 – Montreal, QC @ Théâtre Beanfield
11/10 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
11/11 – London, UK @ Heaven
11/13 – Dublin, IE @ Workmans Club
11/14 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
11/15 – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
11/17 – Leeds, UK @ The Brudenell Social Club
11/18 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
11/10 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
11/11 – London, UK @ Heaven
11/13 – Dublin, IE @ Workmans Club
11/14 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
11/15 – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
11/17 – Leeds, UK @ The Brudenell Social Club
11/18 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
11/20 – Kortrijk, BE @ Wilde Westen
11/21 – Paris, FR @ Point Ephemere
11/22 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique
11/23 – Vlaardingen, NL @ De Kroepoekfabriek
11/24 – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher
11/26 – Berlin, DE @ Neue Zukunft
#tttopsss