TopHouse
Practice
Based in Nashville, TopHouse is probably the best and most popular band you’ve never heard of, yet they have millions of streams on Spotify, 320,000 followers on Instagram, and more than 312,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
Originally from Montana, after becoming a big fish in the little pond of Missoula, TopHouse moved to Nashville, where they released Hope & Fears in 2019, followed by 2021’s Snapshot. In 2022, things began to take off as the band started posting live performance videos that attracted attention. Being DIYers, they started booking their own gigs. Word-of-mouth advertising elevated their popularity, and before long, TopHouse was selling out clubs wherever they played.
Their new EP, Practice, follows on the heels of last year’s EP, Theory, which was more of an upbeat, expectant collection of songs, whereas Practice is more introspective, musing on the frailty and flaws of the past.
Of the six tracks on Practice, entry points include “Meteor,” which opens on soft, gleaming, folk-flavored riffs topped by gentle, expressive vocals. The melody ramps up to folk-rock levels, radiating heavy, dark guitars, and then subsides. Vaguely reminiscent of Pure Prairie League, it’s a beautifully evocative song.
Tinted with Celtic timbres, “I Don’t Wanna Move On” reveals the real emotions generated by a failed relationship. Society says to find closure and then move on — which may be simply emotional sublimation and denial.
There’s a dark, bluesy gospel feel to “Run,” with its delicious fingerpicking banjo and tighter, tangled vocals, vocals that give off an aura of wicked tension.
“Falling,” a low-slung, acoustic number, ties the EP off with quiet, shimmering textures accented by a hauntingly gorgeous violin that imbues the tune with profound, passionate sensations.
Written from a mature perspective, in the middle of a fragmented world, TopHouse’s new EP explores the implications of being human.
