One of my favourite late summer albums right now is that of Montréal band TOPS (Notice how I said late summer and not early fall? It’s not over til it’s over!). The group has been making music and seducing fans in Montréal and Toronto for a few years now, but their new album Picture You Staring is the album that is going to change it all for them.
For the past week or so I have been intermittently interrupted, unable to think a full thought, because before I can the track “Change of Heart” pops into my head and I’m stuck singing it to myself over and over and over… The song starts like the opening credits to a John Hughes film from the 80s and continues on in that vein of thought. Picture: an 80s girl with frizzy, teased hair wearing a tennis headband caught in a love triangle. A feeling that permeates the whole album.
Despite the cheesy 80s inspired melodies (which is not a bad thing at all but rather the opposite) each track on the album manages to sound different and distinct but still stick together as a cohesive album.
With quite a few catchy tracks, we can expect to see this album really take off this fall.
Earworms:
Way to Be Loved
Outside
Change of Heart