We’ve all experienced Allston at night. We know the shouts of college kids, the honking car horns, the ding ding ding of an unfaithful T car as it pulls away from Harvard Ave. We’ve seen taxi drivers gathered like a boy scouts outside Tedeschi, and the infamous Riddler as he rounds the block to stump us with a word game for a buck or two. This is the Allston racket we know, and sometimes even love. It’s something we’ve picked up on in our time here. It’s something we’ve noticed on our way to Great Scott.

And then there’s Great Scott. The entity, the institution, the place we frequent to catch psych rockers, folky songstresses and everyone in between. This Wednesday, the venue hosts a line up straight from some groovy pop dream. St. Nothing, Mini Dresses, TOPS, oh my! This one’s certain to be a feel good, or at least—feel something—kind of show.

We caught up with TOPS’ Jane Penny as she traveled with her band across flat Midwestern roads, a family-sized portion of America known for a diet of red meat and the sharp ‘r’ in words like “fork,” and “thunder snow,” which, according to my sources, is a phenomenon that occurs when snow, thunder and lightening all happen at the same time. Don’tcha know!

TOPS spent the bulk of February playing shows across Japan, hitting a slew of exotic-sounding places like Kanazawa, Fukuoka and the alien city of Tokyo. All this, before flying to the West Coast to carry on their promotion of Picture You Staring, a 2014 release off Arbutus Records devoted to retro grooves, warm synths and Penny’s seriously seductive vocals. It’s a gem of an album; packing arty minimalism, hooky choruses and the slightest twinge of longing into 12 perfect pop songs. What more could you ask of a record?

Somewhere between Minneapolis and Chicago we caught Jane to chat briefly about tour, the Canadian music scene and her favorite artists—both musical and otherwise. Picture Jane staring into a computer screen a week before hearing the sounds of Allston for herself. Picture Jane staring before catching TOPS this Wednesday at Great Scott.

Allston Pudding: You’re about a month into an international tour. Before Boston it was the West Coast, and before that, a number of shows in Japan. How’s travel been?

Jane Penny: It’s been really great! Japan was crazy, and the west coast shows were all really fun. When there’s a lot to see and the shows are good, I get energy from that so it doesn’t matter that I barely sleep except in the van.

AP: Want to tell us the story of Mitsuki the hitchhiker?

JP: We had two Japanese tour managers and they picked her up halfway to Hiroshima. I opened the door to the van and there was this Japanese girl sitting there, I thought I’d opened the door to the wrong van! She was with us for 6 days, I guess she was just traveling around Japan alone during her spring break. She didn’t talk that much but she had a really high-pitched voice and was so cute, she smiled a lot.

AP: Picture You Staring definitely has a retro vibe. Is this something you aimed for, or something you felt inspired to do? 

JP: We play instruments, so that’s a big part of it. We recorded through an old desk into ProTools, so we got the warm sound from the mixing desk but we didn’t record to tape or anything.

AP: Your band seems to have strong ties to the art world. Who are your favorite artists?

JP: That’s cool you say that. Riley and I were just talking about it and tho we both really love art I think our taste might be a little dated since we aren’t super involved in the contemporary art world. He really like Richard Serra and Robert Smithson – the 70s guys who made large sculptural stuff and land art. I really like Mark Rothko, Max Ernst, Cindy Shermann, Yoko Ono’s performance art and also Jasper Johns. As far as newer artists go I really like Olafur Eliasson. We also saw a Robert Gober exhibit on tour and David was really digging it.

AP: I read in your interview with Dummy magazine that you grew up “running from the choir.” How has that mindset shaped your time as a frontwoman? Getting on stage seems downright terrifying.

JP: Honestly, it has been at certain times, when I’m in a very introverted state, but I also think it’s so different from choir. With choir it was like, I didn’t like the songs we were singing and it all seemed designed to make the goodie goodie girls more confident, I guess I thought a lot of school was dumb when I was a kid. Singing at shows feels more like continuing a path of all these cool girls that traveled all over the world expressing themselves, I like having a voice.

AP: The Montreal scene seems like some sort of musical paradise. Do you have any favorite bands from the city?

JP: Right now our favourite bands are Homeshake, Doldrums, Brave Radar, She-Devils and Tasseomancy.

AP: What about Toronto? Would you say there’s a difference between the two, soundwise?

JP: Tasseomancy are actually from Montreal AND Toronto. The cities definitely have different vibes, Montreal is really chill and french and Toronto is a lot more urban, more metropolitan. A lot of people in Toronto complain about the music scene but I think there’s a lot of good psych bands.

AP: Your sophomore album’s a sunny one, and is worth spinning again and again. What can we expect from TOPS in the next few months?

JP: We’re working on another record once we’re done touring in June.

Catch TOPS play Great Scott Wednesday, 3/11, alongside St. Nothing and Mini Dresses. Doors at 9 pm, 18+, $10.