Hot on the heels of their latest single ‘Witching Hour’, Montreal four-piece Tops have shared a new song and video from their forthcoming album I Feel Alive, which is set for release on April 3 via Musique Tops. ‘Colder & Closer’ is a shimmering, lean pop production with lyrical meditations on the social isolation that often plagues casual intimacy. The Mashie Alam-directed visual artfully represents this by following singer Jane Penny through an alternating lens of thermal and normal vision.

Speaking on the video, Alam says: "Jane had this really amazing vision where she hoped to convey the feeling of being immensely close to someone. The choice of using thermal footage was made because we wanted to see, feel, and immerse ourselves into the varying temperatures of the body as it heats up, cools down, responds to touch, and feels alone. We created a movement composition that travels between a live action world and a thermal world! The idea was to visually explore the dynamic of being far (in the live action world) and being close (in the thermal world)! Eventually the juxtaposing jumps between the two worlds merge into an immersive thermal universe to evoke a climactic sense of closeness from where there is no return."

I Feel Alive is Tops fourth full-length, following 2017's Sugar At The Gate and follows singles ‘Echo of Dawn’ and ‘Seven Minutes’ from last year. Their trademark sound of beguiling melodies over soft-rock grooves, with touches of '80s sophisti-pop and a contemporary experimental palette is intact, but bolder and more expansive. The songs manage to be both immediately catchy and deceptively deep, with Penny's literary lyrics adding an extra dimension to the pure pop hooks. Satisfying yet far from predictable, this is a record to be savoured, revealing itself slowly, gaining power and poignancy with each listen.

Beneath the soaring melodies and crisp production, I Feel Alive balances the giddiness of a new relationship with the agony of leaving old things behind. It's an introspective record that you can dance to, music that hits in an immediate rush but sticks around, lingering like the memory of a perfect doomed love affair-both the joy and the pain, until it becomes a part of your life forever.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

May 18 - Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin

May 19 - Nottingham, UK @ Bodega

May 20 - Dublin, Ireland @ Whelan's

May 21 - Glasgow, UK @ Stereo

May 22 - Manchester, UK @ YES

May 23 - London, UK @ All Points East Festival

May 24 - Bristol, UK @ The Louisiana

May 25 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds

Catholic Action brand-new track, ‘Yr Old Dad’, is from their fast-approaching new album Celebrated by Strangers. Where previous singles ‘One of Us’ and ‘People Don't Protest Enough’ were pointedly political - and February's ‘Another Name For Loneliness’ revelled in slow-burn anthemia – ‘Yr Old Dad’ is something different from the band. Lead singer and guitarist Chris McCrory comments; “This is the sound of the wheels coming off, a sing-along catastrophe. The shrugged shoulders as another funny little plan doesn’t go quite right”.

On Celebrated by Strangers, Catholic Action find themselves searching for meaning, defining identity, attacking power, pointing fingers and demanding accountability. McCrory adds; "I’m in it to make records that are interesting and matter. We’ve made a record that embraces the negatives – both from a musical and social/political standpoint – sees the humour in them and ultimately turns them into something positive; be that a better outlook, or progressive political action.”

Indebted at times to the progressive ‘70s influences of Eno, Fripp and Talking Heads, Celebrated by Strangers is ultimately the sonic statement of a band inspired by the mire of the now, with a sense of humour, hope, change and proactivity.

Before the album arrives however, the band focus themselves on their first live activity of the decade as they hit UK venues in March in support of Kid Kapichi. After that it's over to the US for festival appearances including SXSW, before returning to the UK for the year’s first city weekender festivals. See the band live on the following dates.

March 01 - Oporto, Leeds, UK *

March 02 - Think Tank? Underground, Newcastle, UK *

March 05 - Phase One, Liverpool, UK *

March 06 - Bodega, Nottingham, UK *

March 07 - Yes! Basement, Manchester, UK *

March 09 - The Cookie, Leicester, UK *

May 02 - Liverpool Sound City, Liverpool, UK

May 03 - Hit The North, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

May 08 - St Lukes, Glasgow, UK

* with Kid Kapichi