Montreal’s TOPS have been celebrated for over a decade for their retro-pop grooves evoking the simple, pleasant and maddeningly catchy melodies of the ’60s and ’70s, but a running joke during the creation of their latest saw the band getting into the zone by referring to themselves as “evil TOPS.”

Both unfortunate news headlines and an aching desire for creative exploration prompted the band to get a little darker in sound – a couple tracks find guitarist David Carriere injecting some of his beloved punk-rock riffs – and subject matter, both personal (e.g. touring woes) and character-driven (e.g. a breakup song initially imagined as a widow dealing with loss on the outstanding “Wheels at Night”), as narrators across the board lean into the struggles of dealing with the modern world. When frontwoman Jane Penny’s vocal delivery is just as intoxicatingly sweet as ever, though, can you really call it evil?

Despite the sonic shifts, everything that fans have come to love about TOPS – yes, even Penny’s flute solos – is still here, whether you’re in search of tight harmonies, funky synth syncopation, a vintage sheen, or the sophisti-pop melodies that make it feel like the genre can be whittled down to an exact science. The band have just set out to break up the formula with a couple surprises, and that makes it all the more fun.