The Montreal indie pop quartet TOPS displayed a penchant for honey-dipped guitars and twinkling keyboards that evoke the nostalgia of AM-radio hits on their 2014 debut Picture You Staring. However, with their upcoming album Sugar at the Gate, they scale things a bit, airing towards more minimal, slow-burning love songs. “Further,” their latest single, crystallizes the band’s new sound: Singer Jane Penny’s clear vocals coast downstream amidst skittish jazz drums, slinking guitars, and a drowsy downtempo. It’s as if TOPS have taken the mellow sophisti-pop of Aztec Camera or Prefab Sprout and stripped it for parts, exposing its skeleton and retaining those essentials. TOPS’ restraint extends to their pointed lyrics, too: The refrain is built from deceptively simple, forlorn sentiments (“I just can’t let it go/I just can’t let it die”). In whittling down their sound, TOPS paint a picture as stark as heartbreak itself.