Dialing in from Gothenburg, Sweden, Jane Penny, frontwoman of TOPS greets me warmly. TOPS, a band whose inception began in Montreal, has been garnering fans rooting for success as early as their first album in 2012. Their music is vibey, sonically speaking, and their lyrics connect you to the paradox of beauty and messiness that is human behavior. They’ve essentially graced us with the option to chill out or submerge in introspective feelings, depending on what you’re more attuned to on a given day. Admittedly, I was a little nervous before hopping on to talk to Jane Penny, not because her online persona seems intimidating but because she, and the rest of TOPS, are effortlessly cool. It was a pleasure to get to know the person behind the words more closely, thanks to her openness and maybe in part to our earth sign compatibility—she’s a Capricorn with a Gemini moon and rising, for all my astrology girlies out there.

Jane Penny and I talked about karaoke outings—apparently, Taiwan is the best for this, the famous Berlin club Berghain, TOPS’ latest EP Empty Seats, and more importantly, the inner workings of making music and touring. She doesn’t live in Sweden but, TOPS is currently on their last leg of European tour dates and is heading to North America next (tickets for their Toronto show on July 1st are available here). Welcome to the soft, sincere, and wet world of TOPS.

You’ve been making TOPS music for more than a decade now. What is the TOPS origin story?
I’ve known David [Carriere] for 20 years or so, we met when we were 11/12. We didn’t make music together until 2009. He came to Montreal [for] music and I was at McGill [University]. I had just dropped out of a classical music program to do a Bachelor of Arts. That’s where I met Riley [Fleck], our drummer. David specifically came to Montreal to play in bands and he kind of roped me into it. [He] and Sean Nicholas Savage, who is also still doing music, wanted a girl to sing their songs. I got tricked into it and from there, I got really serious about writing myself. When we started TOPS, that’s when I came into my own as a writer, committed to not just singing [and] really being a part of the musical decisions. That was also the first time we tried to have a band where we’d each play instruments and contribute, and have a voice through instrumentation.

Now knowing that you have a classical music background, does that make you more perceptive of the rules of music or do you prefer to navigate intuitively?
I know for me, it was really important to transition out of the way I had learned to communicate in classical music and I basically took away the option of reading and writing music because I was really tied to that musical notation. I realized very early into being a part of bands that [it] wasn’t going to be a form of communicating and collaborating with other people. So, I pulled the rug out from under and had to learn how to just hear the notes. For TOPS, many different aspects of the way our sound is formed and the way our songs are written [are] also intuitive. We’ve barely ever had a conversation about something we wanted to consciously sound like [and] there are certain instincts and tendencies as players. Riley as a drummer has this sensitivity and strong ideas about what he thinks the drumming should either be [whether it’s] jazzy or pretty straight and not in between. We all bring our own perspectives, but at the end of the day, we’re always creating whatever feels right in the moment and I think that’s why we’ve managed to actually have a sound as a band.

So it’s very intentional but intuitive and non-linear?
Yeah, we never try to sound a certain way. We follow the energy of what happens. Oftentimes, the subject matter will come from the sound of the music and how it’s making me feel. I’m a very feelings-based creator. The intent is to make great music but we never draw the path. 

Your music is very thoughtful and reflective but doesn’t sacrifice danceability or lightness. What comes first, melody or subject matter?
I almost always write melodies first. I do write other things, I don’t know if it’s poetry… No one’s ever going to read it so I guess it doesn’t even matter what it is! I pretty much always start with a melody or the two together. A lot of the time, based on the harmonics of the song, it’ll make me feel a certain way [and] I follow that. Somehow, fitting the words into the melody is better for the song. Sometimes it’s excruciating trying to get the right words together. 

TOPS’ latest EP Empty Seats has themes of yearning for a carefree future, perhaps prompted by the pandemic lockdowns. Do you feel like you’ve now been able to grasp some of the carefree nature you were longing for?
From a personal place… My partner is still dealing with a lot of health complications from Long COVID. I’m living in Berlin right now, and the war in Ukraine is something we’re all aware of and it feels close right now. A lot of the carefree feeling that I was writing about was more about the idea that once you reach a certain age or go through certain chapters in your life, you lose a sense of ignorance, that’s so intrinsic to feeling truly carefree. It was imagining a future that would be but also realizing that real moments like that are already in the past. Like, “Waiting” is definitely a very nostalgic song, [about] wanting the future to hold the beauty of the past and then realizing those moments are behind you. And whatever will be positive in the future, is not recognizable in the present. So you kind of just have to go with it, I guess [laughs]. 

The song “Party Again” expresses the need to live with hope, which can be a difficult feat living in a world that can prompt so much existentialist dread. What brings you hope on the day-to-day?
The fact that everyone in TOPS is so tired but all managing to still have a nice time, laugh, and have fun. David actually wrote “Party Again” and he’s someone who always tries to have fun, in whatever kind of circumstances he finds himself in. You can always laugh and have fun even if the situation around you really sucks. You need other people and that’s a really nice thing about that song—you can’t have hope if you don’t have other people around you to access joy. 

You’re currently touring Europe and the Americas with a house of (un)Empty Seats, are there any performances on your European tour that have been particularly meaningful or memorable to you?
Definitely, playing Primavera [Sound Festival]. That was on my wish list [and] was a big goal for me because I don’t necessarily relate to the festival experience. We’re used to playing small venues, and I feel at home there. But Primavera is so well curated and it meant a lot to be included in something that is so established in that way. The Berlin show [as well]… I was really dreaming about playing at Berghain Kantine and I felt very emotional. Even though a lot of the lyrics are abstract and it’s not immediately clear how personal it is, when I really get inside of singing, the lyrics, and performance, I access my feelings about things in really real ways. It’s like therapy [and] something about being in Berlin fed into that. The crowd was also really warm [and] it’s been really nice to have the reception of the band. We’ve toured a lot and it hasn’t always been huge shows, we’ve built everything from the ground up, so to have the reception we’ve had, especially in these further away places is incredible.

Have you been to Berghain? Sometimes I try the simulator online to see if I could get in…
Since we played the Kantine, they walked us in. I went for the first time, I’m not a huge club person, so I had never really thought about going. But when they said we can walk in and go… Obviously, I’m going to check it out! It was really fun. My friend was wearing a full suit, he dresses in full vintage suits, and people were freaking out about the fact [that] he was wearing a suit in Berghain, which was really cracking me up.

How does your creative process change on the road? Do you jot ideas down? Or is it put on pause entirely until you have time to go home, experience some life off-road, synthesize, and on-forth?
We’ll jam a bit on stage, David will have ideas and we’ll start messing around. Sometimes I’ll write a little. It’s really nice to listen to music on tour. If there’s ever a moment that comes close to a conversation about what direction we want to go, it would probably be sharing music that we’ve been listening to. That’s a really nice moment where we can connect to where each other’s taste is at. Obviously, you get a lot of contact with the outside world. In a weird way, being a musician and touring, the touring element is important to the economics of everything but it’s almost like research into the human condition because you’re being exposed to so many different people and ways of life. That’s something that really helps me to make music that connects to people more. It’s like you’re taking a little survey or something, like, how’s everybody doing?

Any songs or albums on heavy rotation as you’ve been touring?
Aw man, we’ve been listening to a lot of different things. I’ve been listening to this Sunstroke album, Nothing’s Wrong In Paradise. It’s very ambient, experiential synth music. We’ve also been listening to Ultraflex, we’re doing our first show with them tonight, they’re this amazing duo from Berlin. We’ve had really good openers on this tour. There’s this other instrumental composer Pierre Rousseau who is French and I was able to meet on this tour—I’ve been playing his music a lot. Those are a few but it’s nonstop, [there’s] always music on. Also, this Rapport single “Going Nowhere” they’re a Toronto-based band, opening for us in Toronto. 

Are you involved in the creative direction of your music videos? How do you translate the emotions in your music to the visuals? 
You can expand your expression and say so much more. I am really involved with all the music videos, either co-directing or conceptualizing everything. I love films and am really influenced by music videos I love. Music videos are incredibly important to me, if they were just promotional or [handed] off to someone else, I can’t imagine I’d be happy with it. So I’m always involved but it’s collaborative. There are different aesthetic things that I’m drawn to like types of lighting, colors, and moods—also creating the space where I can express and perform. Like with the “Janet Planet” video, the director Anthony brought this whole blue concept. After we spoke about what I wanted to do, he created this idea of what kind of realm we would exist in and I spent a few months preparing myself to inhabit that space. I’m deeply involved in the design aspect too, it’s one of my favorite parts, actually. 

Speaking of this TOPS world and realm, what are some words you’d use to describe it?
Soft. Sincere. Energetic. Honest. Red. Pink. Blue. Wet? [laughs]. 

*We both agreed that the word “wet” weirdly makes perfect sense. 

Who would be in your dream group chat? Dead or alive.
I feel like Joni Mithcell and Sean Nicholas Savage would be really funny because we’re all from the prairies. Someone like Sean would shake [Joni] up. That’s a funny one, I could leave it at that. What I’ve wanted so much in my life is to have a conversation with Joni Mitchell but I’ve never thought it would be something that she would want or that it would go that well. But I feel like Sean could maybe be the element that would facilitate it. 

Go-to karaoke song?
“If I Could Turn Back Time” by Cher. That’s one that I do. I really like singing “Dreamboat Annie” by Heart, but it’s not a crowd-pleaser, it’s a very soft song. We did it in Taiwan once and there was fried chicken, nachos and unlimited drinks. That was one of the best. Everyone [there] that was Taiwanese was just absolutely slaughtering us, they were so much better at it than any of us and none of them were professional musicians.

*I was later informed that David’s is “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis.

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