Fangirl Diaries: TOPS Unlock a New Era With Bury The Key

The Montreal-based indie pop outfit talk fashion obsessions, chihuahuas, and the games they play to pass time on tour.

By Megan Magdalena

Photos by Megan Magdalena

Published on September 8, 2025

Montreal indie outfit TOPS have built a reputation on shimmering melodies and bittersweet pop anthems, and with the release of their new album Bury The Key they’ve fully entered my current obsession rotation. From my first listen, I was transported to a dreamland that reminded me of the first time I heard Kate Bush. Some vocalists just take you somewhere special, and Jane Penny is one of them for me.

On the night of their tour stop in Vancouver, I walked into the band’s dressing room at the Vogue Theatre to the sight of Jane Penny and Marta Cikojevic putting the final touches on their outfits. I immediately eyed up Jane’s boots: the notorious Marc Jacob’s Kiki boots (iykyk). We nerded out over our passion for fashion on a budget and the art of waiting for your dream items to go on sale. TOPS’ guitarist David Carriere bobbed in and out of the doorway, clearly waiting for us to stop talking about clothes.

“Kate Bush is a huge influence for me,” Jane tells me when I mention Kate Bush. “I was listening to her album Never Forever a lot when we were recording Bury The Key.” I also bring up ELO and Marta is quick to confirm that they all love Jeff Lynne—no surprise there. Even the album cover of Bury The Key looks like it could be an ELO cover in the best way possible.

Whenever a band embarks on a tour to support a new album, the hardest part is making the setlist: “We’re jumping into the deep end tonight!” Jane says with a laugh. “Once we learned how to play all the new songs they immediately clicked and felt elevated compared to everything else.” Marta adds that they’ll be playing “Annihilation” live for the first time tonight so understandably there’s some nerves.

As someone who’s spent a lot of my life on tour, I love knowing what other bands do in the van to make the drives more fun. For TOPS, they’ve created their own game that Jane explains started from listening to one Radiohead song followed by a Bryan Adams song because they thought the juxtaposition was funny—that has now morphed into a game called “BrianHead,” where they try to find the cringiest songs to annoy each other with. “Anything to keep the driver awake!” Marta laughs. “We also have three Nintendo Switches in the van,” David adds.

“I have zero other hobbies besides music,” David says when pressed on what they’re currently fangirling over. “I guess I’m fangirling over finding a hobby,” he adds with a smirk. Jane says she’s obsessed with Marta’s dog, Pepa, a chihuahua. I mention I also have a chihuahua and the room erupts into high-pitched squeals as we start showing each other photos and fangirling over our chihuahuas.

After our dog fangirl session, I open the floor for the band to add anything they’d like to say and David, without hesitation, says: “Life is beautiful, follow your own vision, don’t let anyone get you down, and drink lots of water.” And with that, I left the supposedly haunted backstage of the Vogue and ventured back into the venue, now filled with people excitedly waiting for the show to start.

Opening with “Wheels at Night” off the new album, TOPS came out swinging like the indie pop stalwarts that they are. Playing a set full of new and old crowd pleasers like “Petals” and “Way To Be Loved,” they kept the eager crowd on their toes and had the whole room dancing from start to finish. They even nailed “Annihilation,” the song that they were nervous to play, with ease.

TOPS did indeed jump into the deep end, as Jane suggested to me earlier, but it turns out they came prepared to swim as well.