FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Littky
Part Thirty-One: Tegan and Sara
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FOR this outing of A Buyer’s Guide…
I am featuring Tegan and Sara. They are a fantastic Canadian indie pop band formed in 1998, comprised of identical twin sisters, Tegan Rain and Sara Keirsten Quin. The pair have released nine studio albums and numerous E.P.s. I really love their music, so I wanted to highlight it here. Each album is different and interesting so, if you have not heard of them or need a guide to their back catalogue, then I have recommended the four essential albums, an underrated one, their latest studio effort, and an accompanying book. Have a look and listen to the suggestions below because, if you are not familiar and steeped in Tegan and Sara’s music, then I really feel that…
PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Gries/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
YOU ought to be.
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The Four Essential Album
If It Was You
Release Date: 20th August, 2002
Labels: Vapor/Sanctuary
Producers: John Collins/David Carswell
Standout Tracks: Monday Monday Monday/I Hear Noises/Living Room
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Tegan-and-Sara-If-It-Was-You/release/2031242
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/03KYia16AlAgoGNUneay0J
Review:
“Three songs on If It Was You stand above the rest, the best examples of the duo's growing songwriting talents and the best combinations of their folk influences and their new, louder direction. The Britpoppy "Want to Be Bad", with its combination of a shuffling drum beat, acoustic guitars, and ethereal electric guitar solo licks with an excellent vocal performance by Tegan (at least, I think it's Tegan . . . they sound so much alike). According to their bio, "Under Water" was inspired by Sara's attempt at writing a children's book, and it possesses a real sing-song quality along with some more 12-string guitar (think The La's), with its very pretty chorus of "All I need is time / Time to love you" and the odd facetious aside ("Your silly love songs / A bird's chorus and such"). Tegan's fun, bluegrass stomp of a song "Living Room" is the album's catchiest tune, as she describes the view through a neighbor's uncomfortably close window and the voyeuristic desire to keep staring: "My windows look into your bathroom / I spend the evening watching you get yourself clean / I wonder why it is they left this bathroom so unclean / So unlike me."
It's good to see that Tegan And Sara know the difference between singing an emotional song well and just trying too hard to get the message across; most singers their age simply beat a song to death with their vocal histrionics, ripping off Alanis Morrissette, et al, but these wisecracking sisters possess a maturity and easygoing feel that's sorely lacking in the Young Female Singer/Songwriter subgenre. If It Was You doesn't break new musical ground, but that doesn't keep it from being one of the more pleasant surprises to surface in recent months” – Popmatters
Choice Cut: Time Running
The Con
Release Date: 24th July, 2007
Labels: Vapor/Sire/London
Producers: Tegan and Sara/Chris Walla
Standout Tracks: Are You Ten Years Ago/Burn Your Life Down/Floorplan
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Tegan-And-Sara-The-Con/master/58207
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4QjGIZZqvNrdkgw4LZKLZK?si=0lqdh8kGTXqX7gvQRXR-0g
Review:
“Although identical twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin first appeared in the music scene in the late '90s playing the kind of folk-rock and folk-punk more associated with other Lilith Fair (in which they participated) artists of the time, by the time 2007 rolled around they had moved into much poppier territory. It was a progression, to be sure, from This Business of Art to their fourth Vapor full-length -- one that can be heard in the time spent on production, the louder guitars -- but that still may not prepare listeners for The Con. Produced by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, the album is full of quirky, Aqueduct-like keyboards, punchy bass from Weezer's Matt Sharp and AFI's Hunter Burgan, and even some guitar help from Kaki King that stretch and shove their way into the spaces between Tegan and Sara's hook-driven melodies and clean harmonies, more complex than anything they've done before. Though each sister writes and sings lead on seven tracks, it is Sara especially who writes the more intricate pieces ("Relief Next to Me," "Like O, Like H"), showing a more adult songwriter, one who has matured since her first work came out, while Tegan draws more from simpler emo and pop-punk arrangements ("Nineteen," "Hop a Plane"), her songs more straightforward, both compositionally and lyrically, than her sister's. But this isn't to say that there's a kind of disparity or harsh contrast on The Con. Much like the duo's voices, which share a timbre, a clear relationship, even if their actual tonality differs, the songs on the album complement each other, play off the other's strengths, and make the record very much an entity instead of simply a collection of tracks, setting it off as an impressive step forward in their already commendable discography” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: The Con
Sainthood
Release Date: 26th October, 2009
Label: Sire
Producers: Chris Walla/Howard Redekopp
Standout Tracks: Hell/Red Belt/Paperback Head
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Tegan-And-Sara-Sainthood/master/203376
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5WEzg0qwsaTxv798ACtVTH
Review:
“The danceable, buzzy, ’80s-influenced pop-rock of Tegan & Sara has become increasingly common of late, thanks in part to fellow travelers like The Gossip and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. That means the Quin sisters may not get the credit they deserve for the way they construct and deconstruct songs. More than just a throwback act, Tegan & Sara have a lot in common with Spoon in the way they tug at the edges of classic girl-group pop and R&B, emphasizing rhythmic punch while keeping their melodies clean and lyrics memorable. True, there’s something faintly robotic to the approach—more so than ever on the duo’s sixth LP, Sainthood, which is more or less a copy of 2007’s superb The Con—but the songs are so well-tooled that it’s hard to hold their precision against them.
Consider Sainthood’s “Arrow,” which puts a staccato beat under the repeated image of an arrow’s feathers brushing by; the lyrics offer a straightforward expression of unrequited love, contained within a song packed with restless energy. Throughout Sainthood, Tegan & Sara invest small, relatable subjects—the embarrassment of unconscious gestures, the loneliness of sexual yearning—with the urgency of a teenage love-note. And after wallowing in romantic martyrdom for roughly half an hour, the Quins end Sainthood with “Sentimental Tune” and “Someday,” a rousing one-two finale that aspires to real joy. It’s another inside-out move for Tegan & Sara; they’ve pulled apart self-doubt and found the self-regard that lines it” – The A.V. Club
Choice Cut: Alligator
Love You to Death
Release Date: 3rd June, 2016
Labels: Vapor/Warner Bros.
Producer: Greg Kurstin
Standout Tracks: That Girl/Dying to Know/White Knuckles
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Tegan-and-Sara-Love-You-To-Death/master/1009307
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0zqoBumDciJGNoOsvfTP5U
Review:
“Indeed, for all Tegan and Sara’s adoption by the queens of teen pop, Love You to Death feels like a distinctly grownup album, unafraid to explore nuanced, mature themes. There’s something unflinching about 100x’s description of a failed relationship, and there’s a disturbing darkness lurking around Dying to Know: if you were the ex addressed in the lyrics, you’d strongly consider applying for a restraining order, or at the very least changing your mobile number.
That Buzzfeed profile also found the duo – who once doubted that gay women could ever make it into the US pop charts at all – wondering how far their newfound success might go, whether they might end up headlining Madison Square Gardens or the O2. Maybe, maybe not; the pop world is pretty fickle, after all. But listening to Love You to Death, it’s certainly not impossible to imagine” – The Guardian
Choice Cut: Boyfriend
The Underrated Gem
So Jealous
Release Date: 14th September, 2004
Labels: Vapor/Sanctuary
Producers: Sara Quin/Tegan Quin/John Collins/David Carswell/Howard Redekopp
Standout Tracks: You Wouldn't Like Me/I Know I Know I Know/Fix You Up
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Tegan-and-Sara-So-Jealous/master/58198
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2yNhqBKfZPzrxRJqGMbSz9
Review:
“Tegan and Sara's third album, So Jealous, is by far their most ambitious and liveliest record, opening up their punk-folk sound with a heavy dose of new wave sensibility and pop hooks. They started moving in this direction on their previous album, but here they dive headfirst into slick, shiny surfaces, insistent synths, clean guitars, and bright, playful melodies that sound sunny even in minor keys. This musical revamp doesn't betray their nervy emotionalism. Instead, it focuses them, giving their music style and flair that focuses them while making the duo more accessible. And So Jealous is indeed the Tegan and Sara album that could play to a wider audience, but the group remains an acquired taste for one reason: their thin, squeaky voices and close harmonies can be grating to the uninitiated. Nevertheless, for those who have acquired that taste, So Jealous is the most satisfying album Tegan and Sara have yet made” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Walking with a Ghost
The Latest Album
Hey, I'm Just Like You
Release Date: 27th September, 2019
Label: Sire
Producer: Alex Hope
Standout Tracks: Hey, I'm Just Like You/Don't Believe the Things They Tell You (They Lie)/We Don't Have Fun When We're Together Anymore
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Tegan-and-Sara-Hey-Im-Just-Like-You/release/14185107
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4tnkPLLedgamtrRCDdpqwX
Review:
“When, on ‘Hello, I’m Free’, a souped-up version of the demo ‘Hello’, Sara Quinn sings a repurposed line such as, “Right now, I wish I was older”, her original snarled cry for connection strikes a slightly different tone. This time you sense that maybe she was singing about a vaguer and more elusive kind of experience, rather than age itself.
But set aside ‘Hey, I’m Just Like You’s nifty concept and you’ll see that the record stands up without novelty value. ‘Hold My Breath Until I Die’ is a slightly macabre slab of slinking heartbreak; ‘Keep Them Close Cause They Will Fuck You Too’ glimmers and claws; and on the title track they finally score their first ever explicit song rating. It only took them nine studio albums to drop the F-Bomb – and here, it’s spat with delicious relish.
Some will perhaps hail this record as a return to the duo’s rockier roots, though that’s not necessarily true. Over the course of two decades, it’s been impossible to pin Tegan and Sara to one specific record or sonic direction. Place their snappy 2016 release ‘Love You To Death’ next to the synth-pop curveball ‘Heartthrob’, the punchy indie of ‘The Con’ or the biting ‘If It Was You’, and you’ll see a band that loves shaking things up. Their only truly consistent quality is their ability to cut straight to the emotional core.
Presented as verbatim reproductions, the songs on ‘Hey, I’m Just Like You’ would function as a pile of dogeared artists sketchbooks – but picked up again and turned into hefty indie-pop bangers, this serves as an honest, vulnerable, and occasionally brutal reminder of what Tegan and Sara have always been best at” – NME
Choice Cut: I'll Be Back Someday
The Tegan and Sara Book
High School
Authors: Tegan Quin/Sara Quin
Publication Date (paperback): 17/11/2020
Publishers: Little/Brown Book Group
Synopsis:
“From iconic musicians Tegan and Sara comes a nostalgic memoir about high school, detailing their first loves and first songs in a compelling look back at their origin story.
'Genius' Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors
'A gift' Ellen Page, actress
'Utterly charming' Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties
Before they became international musicians and LGBTQ+ icons, twin sisters Sara and Tegan Quin came of age in 90s Canada. They argued relentlessly, skipped school, dropped acid and fell in and out of love - sometimes with their best friends.
One day they found their stepdad's guitar and their lives changed course forever.
High School is a revelatory joint memoir. It captures two sisters wrestling with their sexual and artistic identities and those breathtaking years when the future seems wondrously possible” – Waterstones
Order: https://www.waterstones.com/book/high-school/tegan-quin/sara-quin/9780349011981