Information About this Event
ABOUT THIS EVENT
TOPS with Tiberius B
TOPS
“Last spring when all our tours got cancelled most of us ended up in Montreal and we spent the summer writing and recording some new songs. The song we’re sharing today – “Party Again” – seemed too appropriate to not use it to announce our rescheduled dates. The song is about missing someone that you only see when you go out”, says TOPS about their latest single.
TOPS were formed in Montreal when song-writing duo David Carriere and Jane Penny decided to join forces with drummer Riley Fleck. Since then they have become one of the most influential underground bands of the past decade, creating a space for sophisticated pop music in the indie world.
Their tendency to opt towards making straight-forward, stripped down and honest recordings lets their pop songwriting shine out in the open. With a heart firmly attached to their sleeves, their songcraft delves into the emotional intricacy of personal relationships, asking questions about power and desire. Riley Fleck’s measured drumming and David Carriere’s trademark guitar licks mesh with Marta Cikojevic’s lush keyboards. All these elements work in tandem and in service of Jane Penny’s unmistakable, wistful voice.
The result of this mixture is a collection of four self-produced records and a handful of singles that cover a range of moods and a complex emotional realm while maintaining a groove and musicality. Soft rock infused pop hits flow easily, surrounded by their signature moody ballads.
Tiberius B
Original, unfiltered and radiating tenacity, Tiberius b is a singer and producer adept at both emboldening audiences and offering them catharsis through diaristic songwriting.
Raised in the woods on a remote island in Western Canada, Tiberius’ take on pop music is as raw and electrifying as these early surroundings. After relocating to their birthplace of London, England in 2017, they traded the synths for a borrowed B.C. Rich Warlock guitar and swaggering downtempo beats, calling on influences from their parent’s CD collection like Portishead, Massive Attack and Blur for debut EP Stains.
In early 2020, while society spiraled out thanks to the newly-proclaimed global pandemic, Tiberius got a call from their uncle asking them to take care of their elderly grandmother in the remote Welsh countryside. Eventually, when she was moved to hospital, they found themselves alone in her house for six long weeks, during which the EP came to be.
Lacking their usual set-up, a local villager lent the electric guitar, and they went about relearning old synth songs on it, accompanied by logic preset beats. Pent up feelings and power chords combined, drawing Tiberius towards a new sound animated by the throws of isolation-cultivated adolescent angst.
Grounded by Tiberius’ years of songwriting experience, Stains effortlessly guides listeners through breakups, sexual awakenings, gender euphoria, isolation, psychedelic divinations and moments of complete exasperation.
“Big Deal” shakes off the debris of past heartbreaks, charging towards new loves with a sanguine stomp. Effusing the same unfuckwithable boldness as Tiberius’ lyrics, punch-drunk drums strut through an achingly sentimental guitar melody, solidifying the song’s joyful defiance.
The EP’s title track “Stains” on the other hand doesn’t sugarcoat their anger. Coming to a slow boil, the former reckons with the soft torture of watching an ex float through the world while you’re stuck languishing in their mess, complete with a shouty atonal breakdown reminiscent of Fiona Apple.
Peppered with exasperated UGH!!!s “Steps” rolls its eyes at the past with shady quips and heavy fed-up strumming. “I dropped acid on my own / crawled up the river on all fours
/ laughing maniacally HAHA / no no I’m not going crazy,” they shout, catapulting themselves towards the wide world beyond grief with every forceful word.
“Tears Into The Sun” looks at the bigger picture, reckoning with the loss of friends and family
members, and wondering how their community can endure an increasingly inhospitable world. “If all of us who struggle to withstand the structure survive, then what will we live off of?” they sing, for all those trekking through life in the brambles outside of its government-advised trails.
A release rich with playful explorations of pop structures the EP jumps between moments of hopefulness and weltschmerz, offering fresh perspectives on the peaks and valleys of coming into oneself.
Please Note:
All patrons must show proof of completed Covid-19 vaccination. Original documents, clear paper copies, Excelsior Pass, or clear digital images of these records and matching ID will be accepted.
*Mouth and nose coverings will be worn by all attendees at all times except when eating or drinking. *