Album Review: TOPS Leave “Sugar At The Gate” For Listeners In Need Of Music Sweetness
TOPS newest album, Sugar At The Gate, certainly feels like someone left a batch of candy outside, for you, at Heaven’s Door. It has to be one of the chillest albums I have heard, in recent, as its 10 tracks melt like sugar over a shimmering blaze. This record is that antithesis of any pop anthem by becoming a series of what seems like, synth-pop lullabies.
TOPS – Petals (Official Video)
I cannot reiterate how sweet, smooth, and almost silently this album courses through listeners ears. Sugar At The Gate is so delicate in its approach to music that it blanks your mind, hence, its quiet approach to sound. Lead Vocalist Jane Penny has voice that could quiet even the rowdiest child, which is why the record is meant to be put on when you want to tune out. While most records, of recent, are trying to rile you up emotionally, physically, and mentally, TOPS are trying to calm you down; an ironic twist for a pop-band with the word sugar in its album title. Thus, in essence, think of sweet songs, “Hours Between”, “Seconds Erase”, and “Further” like the coming down from a sugar high both lyrically and sonically. For TOPS this album is, thematically, about figuring out your next move in either a spiritual or situational challenge. Whether it be officially deciding to do something with your life or relationship, every song is seemingly about crossroads. Once again, in irony, TOPS uses the serenity of Penny’s vocals and the tenderizing capacity of a winding guitar/drum to tranquilly approach something like a life crossroad, which is usually intense and jolting.
From “Further” to “I Just Want To Make You Real”, TOPS replace sonic adrenaline kicks with cool strikes of sincere questioning, “Why can’t life just be the way we want it?”. From love to dreams, why can’t we just wake up one day, have what we want, and never have to struggle in deciding if we truly desire it or how to manifest it. Wouldn’t that be the dream? I’m sure that statement is getting a few Amen’s!, which is why TOPS Sugar At The Gate might be the freshest Hallelujah/ record of the week. To Buy Sugar At The Gate On June 2 And Learn More About TOPS Click Here.
