Mask Lady and Late Night Girl

When we last heard from Marci (aka Marta Cikojevic of Montreal soft-rock group TOPS), she was dancing the pain away on 2022’s Marci. Four years later, Cikojevic returns with Mask Lady and Late Night Girl, a record of party girl anthems for when the party is over, delivered with love and compassion for the good times and great memories.

Collaborating again with TOPS bandmate David Carriere, Mask Lady has elements drawn from both the Y2k-era messy pop girlies like Uffie and Kesha and Cikojevic’s love of 80’s power balladeers like White Snake and Def Leppard, along with the vintage synths that gave Marci a warmly futuristic aesthetic. Glam metal influences come to the fore on “Chaotic Princess,” written and produced with Mike Silver (CFCF), an over-the-top guitar-driven banger about a crazy night out on which Cikojevic begs an officer not to take her to jail—Eddie Van Halen riding shotgun with Britney at the wheel.