Empty Seats＜限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

Still helmed by ethereal-voiced songwriter Jane Penny and guitarist/songwriter David Carriere, Montreals TOPS continue to explore and distort AM pop and sophisti-pop influences on their fourth album, I Feel Alive. It was their first to be recorded as a five-piece with the addition of keyboardist Marta Cikojevic, who joined the group for tours in support of 2017s Sugar at the Gate. The more affectionate and reassuring I Feel Alive opens with the shimmery, warped disco of Direct Sunlight, which merges soft, bleep-y, 80s-inspired keyboard tones with jaunty, funk-leaning rhythms and Pennys breathy high range. Meanwhile, the songs lyrics include sentiments like Promise me well always be together/We make sense in all types of weather. Its followed by an equally lively title track and then the jazzier guitar progressions of Pirouette. That song is still immersed in pillowy 80s keyboard timbres alongside whimsical, laser-like effects. Despite the albums bright, playful palette and uplifting title, some of the set list takes on a more yearning, melancholy tone, including the self-descriptive Ballads & Sad Movies and breakup tune Take Down, whose 5/8 time signature and alternating vocal tracks reflect a more unsettled state of mind. Scattered throughout are borderline earworms, such as OK Fine Whatever and Colder & Closer in addition to the aforementioned I Feel Alive. TOPS have pretty much mastered their distinctive niche over the course of four albums, and in that respect, I Feel Alive should provide a familiar comfort, if an off-kilter one, for established fans. Initiated and new listeners alike, however, will be treated to a batch of well-crafted, sensual songs for the down-time hours. ~ Marcy Donelson