TOPS

One Liner:  Spot on indie rock sound

Wikipedia Genre:  indie rock, soft rock, synthpop, dream pop

Home: Montreal

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 14
Weekend Two Only.
Saturday.

Thoughts:  Quebecois indie rock, and it appears that they were sort of hot stuff in the Canadian DIY indie scene last decade.  Three members were previously part of synthpop group Silly Kissers, which disbanded in 2011.  These guys strayed from the terrible band naming convention and the synth pop world to make pretty straight-forward indie rock.  New Pornographers come to mind.  Also, and this may sound strange, the singer reminds me of Janet Jackson repeatedly.  And then I hear Kate Bush.  Their Wikipedia is funny, in that it details their debut album and its follow up in 2014, and then the last line mentions that a new keyboardist joined in 2017.  They have since released three more albums and a bunch of other singles, but the Internet's free encyclopedia got tired.

Their top track is from their third album, 2017's Sugar at the Gate.  "Petals" has 38.6 million streams and what sounds like love song vibes, but I think it might be about the inability to find love or fame.  Either way, it is a good little groove of an indie rock tune.

The lead singer sometimes looks like the actress Emma Mackey.  I dig the 80's throwback costumes - that Madonna is legit.  Their second-most streamed has a knotty and tangled little bassline underneath a light-touch love song from the second album from 2014, called "Way to be Loved."  37 million streams.

Catchy.  I also like the guitar lines near the end, cool little riff of meanderings.  Looks like the new album is coming out soon, so let's just peep one of the new tunes too.  This is "Chlorine" with 412k streams so far.

Feels like we are still in on the same vibe - also, do you hear by Janey and Kate voice affectations in there?  Definitely feels like more synth involvement in there than those earlier tunes.  Always interesting to come across a band like this, who seem to have a devoted fan base and longer history, and yet they have never registered before.  I like it.  Feels like a good discovery who ought to make a good rock show at the Fest.