On the heels of announcing their new album, I Feel Alive, out April 3 via their own label Musique TOPS, Montreal four-piece TOPS are sharing a new song. “Witching Hour” is one of the album’s deceptively upbeat and jubilant moments and follows the release of the album’s title-track last month. It sees singer Jane Penny trying to negotiate the pressure to be feminine and find true feminine power.
Penny explains,
“Witching Hour is a song about reckoning. David [Carriere] wrote the chorus of the song, and when he showed it to me I gravitated towards the idea of a witching hour as a time of night for unconscious thoughts and uncomfortable visions. The pressure to be feminine has twisted my experience of my own sensuality in this nightmarish way, and I wanted to articulate that by conjuring the nefarious ways that trauma emerges in dreams. There’s a sense of reprisal in witchcraft, of retribution as a means of expression, and I wanted to explore that side of feminine power.”
“Witching Hour” also arrives ahead of TOPS’ tour this Spring. Beginning April 3rd in Las Vegas, they’ll make stops in Toronto and Montreal. They’ll be joined by Honey Harper, Sorry Girls, and Better Person on select dates. Tickets are available on their website.
TOUR DATES:
4/3 – Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse Saloon*
4/4 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole*
4/5 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar*
4/6 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace*
4/7 – Marfa, TX @ Lost Horse Saloon*
4/9 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk*
4/10 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger*
4/11 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada*
4/13 – Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone Cafe*
4/14 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West*
4/15 – Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight*
4/16 – Washington D.C. @ Union Stage*^
4/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s^
4/18 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom*^
4/20 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall*^
4/21 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Rialto#^
4/22 – Toronto, ON @ Adelaide Hall#^
4/23 – Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx#^
4/24 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle#^
4/25 – Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club#^
4/28 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial Theatre#
4/29 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile#
4/30 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge#
5/1 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent#
5/2 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre#
5/4 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box#
5/11 – Berlin, Germany @ Berghain Kantine
5/12 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow
5/13 – Köln, Germany @ Bumann & Sohn
5/14 – Münster, Germany @ Gleis 22
5/15 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
5/16 – Paris, France @ Le Beau festival @ La Station
5/18 – Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin
5/19 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
5/20 – Dublin, Ireland @ Whelan’s
5/21 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
5/22 – Manchester, UK @ YES
5/24 – Bristol, UK @ The Louisiana
5/25 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds
5/27 – Lille, France @ La Bulle Café
5/28 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
5/29 – Groningen, Netherlands @ Vera
5/30 – Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko
6/1 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound @ Sala Apolo
* = w/ Honey Harper
# = w/ Sorry Girls
^ = w/ Better Person