Marci

As Marci, TOPS keyboardist Marta Cikojevic assembles a tender yet offbeat strain of indie pop shaped by '80s pop and smooth R&B. Members of TOPS contributed to her self-titled debut album from 2022.

Canada's Marta Cikojevic took piano lessons in childhood, sang with her church choir, and frequently harmonized with whatever played on the radio. She also recorded her own invented melodies on a handheld recorder in private, a habit acquired from her grandfather, who captured both his original compositions and traditional Croatian folk songs from his native Yugoslavia on a dictation tape machine. In adulthood Cikojevic relocated to Toronto and performed with multiple groups until she entered the ranks of Montreal-based indie mainstay TOPS in 2017, coinciding with the band's European tour. Bandmembers Jane Penny (vocalist/songwriter) and David Carriere (guitarist/songwriter) produced TOPS' fourth album, I Feel Alive, issued in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic compelled TOPS to scrap the bulk of the subsequent tour dates. By then Cikojevic had already begun collaborating with Carriere on songs intended for a solo project. Sharing an aim to create material that felt emotionally sincere while remaining catchy and danceable, the pair sketched Marci's earliest tracks on Rhodes piano and bass guitar before layering in analog and FM synths, samplers, guitars, and additional harmonies, assisted by Penny, Mitch Davis, Braids' Austin Tufts, Better Person's Adam Byczkowski, and Anemone's Chloé Soldevila, among others. Arbutus Records released the finished Marci LP in August 2022.