TOPS Release “Direct Sunlight,” New Single from I Feel Alive

Canadian indie-rock four-piece TOPS have shared a new track off their forthcoming album.

“Direct Sunlight” is the fourth single soon to be featured on TOPS’ fourth full album, I Feel Alive, following “Colder & Closer,” “Witching Hour” and the album’s title track.

The 11-track I Feel Alive, coming out April 3, follows 2017’s Sugar at the Gate. Its lead singles maintain the group’s synthesis of present indie-rock sensibilities with ‘80s-prom synth-pop stylings, in turn concert-perfect hype and “Montreal Chill.”

The album is set to explore “the fraught nature of being alive,” with the latest track inspired by frontwoman Jane Penny’s experience with fear and its paradoxes:

I went to this outdoor pool with Olympic style diving boards one summer day in Berlin, and when I tried to jump off the middle one, I think it was about 5 meters high, I really surprised myself when I realized that I’m terrified of heights. My whole body entered this panicked state, the phobia kicked in right away, and I had to do the walk of shame down the ladder and back to the pool. I wanted to capture that duality, the way that even the sunniest days can have this underlying darkness to them … I wrote this song to remind myself that it’s up to me to choose the perspective that I take.

Listen to “Direct Sunlight” and TOPS’ Daytrotter session below.