I Feel Alive

03 APRIL 2020 TOPS I Feel Alive

Description

The artwork for TOPS’ fourth LP sets the tone for the music enclosed. Inspired by the work of photographer Thomas Ruff, TOPS’ vocalist Jane Penney stares bare-faced down the lens – Product info simple and un-posed, yet striking with starkness and vulnerability.

Label TOPS Musique The image captures the fraught nature of being alive, which the 11 tracks on the album Configuration 1 x 12" Vinyl Album explore. Penny's remarkably expressive voice is front and center. On this record more than any other, she sings with passion and energy, without sacrificing the honesty and Sales Date April 03, 2020 introspection that gives her voice its depth. The songs cover a range of experiences but at Order Due Date March 06, 2020 it's heart ‘I Feel Alive’ is a record about resilience, the ways we can grow from for our pain Genre Rock and the strength that comes from learning to stand on your own as an individual.

Subgenre Indie Rock ‘I Feel Alive’ is TOPS’ fourth full-length, following 2017's ‘Sugar At The Gate’ and follows EUR Price Code 23D5 singles "Echo of Dawn" and "Seven Minutes" from last year. Their trademark sound of beguiling melodies over soft-rock grooves, with touches of '80s sophisti-pop and a UPC/EAN 734038994085 contemporary experimental palette is intact, but bolder and more expansive. The songs Box Lot 50 manage to be both immediately catchy and deceptively deep, with Penny's literary lyrics adding an extra dimension to the pure pop hooks. Satisfying yet far from predictable, this is a Product Code TOP002LP record to be savored, revealing itself slowly, gaining power and poignancy with each listen. Explicit N For ‘I Feel Alive’, the band members convened in a basement studio in Montreal, recording for the first time with keyboardist Marta Cikojevic who joined the band as a live member in Contact 2017. “From the first time we practiced with her it was clear that we were in sync musically, and we found ourselves improvising together at the first rehearsal” says Penny. “Having Marta manning the keys allowed me to reach for my flute, and gave me the chance to integrate my flute playing with the writing process, using it as an expressive instrument [email protected] rather than more production element which it has been in the past.” Hopfenmarkt 33 She continues: “We'd spent a lot of time apart, not working on new stuff or touring, just living 20457 Hamburg, Germany life, all in different cities," says Penny. When we went to make I Feel Alive we all had a good sense of what we were trying to do and a renewed energy towards playing together. The goal was to get in a room together and play, not holding anything back."

"It was a quick process," says guitarist and fellow song-writer David Carriere. "We would work all day writing a song and then demo them the same evening, relying on our natural chemistry as a band to let the songs come into their own." The band’s line-up is completed by Riley Fleck on drums.

Title track "I Feel Alive" is a bracing pop gem with darker undertones. An ode to new love,

Penny sings "I feel alive looking in your eyes" with the exuberance that comes with the early stages of romance, the discovery of a deep love. But love is complicated, and within the joy and happiness is the pain of leaving someone else behind. "When I saw you wanted to 1 x 12" Vinyl Album spend the night with someone else at home," she sings, "I knew it wasn't right." This honest admission that happiness can come at the expense of others adds another dimension to the song's ecstatic energy. True love defies us to overcome others expectations, and that's a good thing. People may be watching, but why should you care.

Opposing and it, "Colder and Closer" is a sonic departure, with programmed synths and metallic drumming, the song shimmers. A tribute to seeking meaning in an increasingly confusing world Penny sings "Searching constellations/seeing if the stars align." But she doesn't take comfort in the stars, rejecting fate as something arbitrary, though not quite 03 APRIL 2020 TOPS I Feel Alive

meaningless. "Signs are myths like nations/shapes drawn over crooked lines." The song is swift and lean, a pop confection, but it's also ripe with meditations on the social isolation that plagues casual intimacy. It's a prime example of the way TOPS layer meaning within pop songwriting. Product info Beneath the soaring melodies and crisp production, ‘I Feel Alive’ balances the giddiness of a Label TOPS Musique new relationship with the agony of leaving old things behind. It's an introspective record that Configuration 1 x 12" Vinyl Album you can dance to, music that hits in an immediate rush but sticks around, lingering like the memory of a perfect doomed love affair-both the joy and the pain, until it becomes a part of Sales Date April 03, 2020 your life forever. Order Due Date March 06, 2020 ‘I Feel Alive’ will be released on April 3rd via Musique TOPS. Genre Rock

Subgenre Indie Rock EUR Price Code 23D5 Marketing Highlights

UPC/EAN 734038994085 - Newest album from TOPS, I Feel Alive, out April 3rd 2020 Box Lot 50 - Genre: Indie / Dream Pop - Hometown: Quebec, CA Product Code TOP002LP - Socials Explicit N Facebook - 28,415 Likes Instagram - 18,122 Followers Twitter - 6,058 Followers Contact - Spotify - 603,605 Monthly Listeners // 65,509 Followers - RIYL: Mr. Twin Sister, Part Time, Yumi Zouma, Wild Nothing, Drugdealer, Hoops

- TIMELINE [email protected] Jan 22: I Feel Alive Single w/ Video + Album Announcement Hopfenmarkt 33 Feb 12: Witching Hour 20457 Hamburg, Germany Mar 04: Colder & Closer Single w/ Video Mar 25: Direct Sunlight w/ Video April 3: I Feel Alive Album Release (OK Fine Whatever is unreleased focus track) April 24 - LL Live Video April - US Tour May - UK/EU Tour June - UK/EU Tour

- Full press campaigns with: Orienteer (US) Stereo Sanctity (UK) MalfiCo (MX) La Mission (FR) Bertus (DE, BEL, NLD)

- Full radio campaigns with: US: College Radio w Planetary Group US: Specialty Radio w Insubordinate Media CA: Radio w Canvas Media UK: Radio w Shake PR DE: Radio w Anton Teichmann 03 APRIL 2020 TOPS I Feel Alive

- Full Tour Dates: GERMAN SUPPORT DATES 03/05 - Oberhausen, DE | König Pilsener Arena * 03/06 - Magdeburg, DE | Getec Arena * Product info 03/07 - Chemnitz, DE |Messe * Label TOPS Musique 03/10 - Freiburg, DE | Sick Arena * 03/12 - Bremen, DE | Övb Arena * Configuration 1 x 12" Vinyl Album 03/13 - Köln, DE | Lanxess Arena * Sales Date April 03, 2020 03/15 - Kiel, DE | Sparkassen Arena * *unannounced and supporting AnnenMayKantereit (stadium shows). announcing in january Order Due Date March 06, 2020

05/22 - Manchester, UK | YES 05/23 - London, UK | All Points East 05/24 - Bristol, UK | The Louisiana 05/25 - Birmingham, UK | Hare and Hounds Product info 05/27 - Lille, FR | La Bulle Café Label TOPS Musique 05/28 - Brussels, BE | Botanique 05/29 - Groningen, NL | Vera Configuration 1 x 12" Vinyl Album 05/30 - Utrecht, NL | Ekko Sales Date April 03, 2020 06/02 - Barcelona, ES | Primavera Sound @ Apolo *not all confirmed but this is the routing Order Due Date March 06, 2020

Genre Rock - PAST PRESS Subgenre Indie Rock "Echo of Dawn" / "Seven Minutes" Stereogum (7” Post) EUR Price Code 23D5 Gorilla vs Bear (7” Post) UPC/EAN 734038994085 Exclaim! (7” Post) (Canada) Box Lot 50 Brooklyn Vegan (7” Post) Highclouds (7” Post) Product Code TOP002LP Herald Publicist (7” Post) Explicit N The Autumn Roses (7” Post) Circuit Sweet (7” Post) (UK) Miojo Indie (7” Post) (Brazil) Contact electric sounds of joy (7” Post) David Dean Burkhart (7” Post) (YouTube) Hotpress (7” Post) Indienative (7” Post) [email protected] Waves Over Quakes (7” Post) Hopfenmarkt 33 The Most Radicalist (7" Post) 20457 Hamburg, Germany Melographic (7" Post) Hot Press (7" Post) Electric Sound of Joy (7" Post) Circuit Sweet (7" Post)

"Sugar at the Gate" Album Reviews The Line of Best Fit - 7.5 Exclaim! - 80% AllMusic - 80% NOW Magazine - 80% Pitchfork - 7.4 Clash - 70%

- QUOTES “TOPS are connoisseurs of simple expression” - Pitchfork “Indie pop bliss.” - Pitchfork "One of the most riveting and peerless acts in indie rock" - Stereogum “One of Canada’s most consistent musical exports” - NYLON “Undeniably beautiful ... immediately rewarding” - Exclaim! “[Sugar At The Gate] is an absolute treasure.” - Gorilla vs Bear “‘Petals’ is a sinuous, timeless soft-funk-pop jam with some of the most bitingly relatable 03 APRIL 2020 TOPS I Feel Alive

lyrics you’ll hear in 2017.” - Gorilla vs Bear

France - La Mission (FR) running PR Product info - TOUR DATES Label TOPS Musique 16/05/20 : Le Beau festival @ La Station – Paris (F) 27/05/20 : La Bulle Café – Lille (F) Configuration 1 x 12" Vinyl Album

Sales Date April 03, 2020 GSA Order Due Date March 06, 2020 - Bertus (DE, BEL, NLD) running PR Genre Rock - DE: Radio w Anton Teichmann - TOUR DATES: Subgenre Indie Rock 03/05 - Oberhausen, DE | König Pilsener Arena * EUR Price Code 23D5 03/06 - Magdeburg, DE | Getec Arena * 03/07 - Chemnitz, DE |Messe * UPC/EAN 734038994085 03/10 - Freiburg, DE | Sick Arena * Box Lot 50 03/12 - Bremen, DE | Övb Arena * Product Code TOP002LP 03/13 - Köln, DE | Lanxess Arena * 03/15 - Kiel, DE | Sparkassen Arena * Explicit N *unannounced and supporting AnnenMayKantereit (stadium shows). announcing in january

Contact Headline Dates: 05/11 - Berlin, DE | Berghain Kantine 05/12 - Hamburg, DE | Molotow 05/13 - Köln, DE | Bumann & Sohn 05/14 - Münster, DE | Gleis 22 [email protected] Hopfenmarkt 33 Tracklist 20457 Hamburg, Germany DISC 1

SIDE A

1. Direct Sunlight 2. I Feel Alive 3. Pirouette 4. Ballads & Sad Movies 5. Colder & Closer

SIDE B

1. Witching Hour 2. Take Down 3. Drowning in Paradise 4. OK Fine Whatever 5. Looking to Remember 6. Too Much