![]() ![]() But to do it in these direct, incandescent pop songs must be unbelievably difficult. It takes a rare skill to express feelings that layered in any sort of song. And on “100x,” they’re ripping off the Band-Aid, realizing they have to stop hinting at leaving someone, that they need to just go ahead and do it already. On “Dying To Know,” they’re holding onto their phone, waiting for a text from an ex, feeling entitled to something. “ U-Turn” is about admitting fault, realizing that you’re taking someone for granted, sniping and starting fights, and knowing that you’re going to have to completely rewrite your role in the relationship if you want it to survive. “That Girl” is about looking at yourself, realizing you’re stuck in a pattern that you don’t like. These aren’t just love songs or breakup songs. The songs on Love You To Death are all about adult relationships, about the intricacies involved in those relationships. If anything, they’re more sophisticated lyrically than they’ve ever been. If they were playing these songs on guitars, any of them could’ve fit in just fine on So Jealous. The melodies and harmonies haven’t changed over the years, even if the production and instrumentation are totally and completely different. “ 100x” might be a piano-only ballad, but that piano comes slathered in some expensive, effective effects, as are the sisters’ voices.įundamentally, though, Tegan And Sara are still writing the same sorts of songs as they were 10 or 15 years ago. (As someone who was in high school when “Whoever You Are” was out, this is no small concession.) Even the stripped-down songs on Love You To Death just gleam. The sonics are all sharp and clean, and producer Greg Kurstin, who also worked on Heartthrob, knows just what sounds to use to highlight all those hooks his work here has me ready to forgive him for being the guy from Geggy Tah. At 10 songs and 31 minutes, it’s closer to, say, Duran Duran’s Rio or the Cars’ self-titled album than it is to the new Ariana Grande. ![]() There’s no bloat, which makes it a rare beast today. This is a sharp, concise, focused pop album. That bright, sugary, melodic retro wave has taken over vast swaths of pop radio, and Heartthrob is an acknowledged influence on an album as huge as Taylor Swift’s 1989.įor the new Love You To Death, they’ve gone even bigger and brighter and bolder. Really, there was nothing generic about the kind of pop music the duo embraced on that album. That’s a good album, but I don’t understand myself sometimes.) But the songs stuck around. (The week it came out, I gave Album Of The Week to Bleeding Rainbow’s Yeah Right. The first few times I heard it, it sounded like a pretty good pop album, and that was all. Those songs took time to sink in all the way, to completely resonate the way they eventually would. Heartthrob scanned as something immediate, but it wasn’t, not really. Tegan And Sara figured out that glimmering ’80s roller-disco synths showed those songs in their best possible light, and they made everything click. Heartthrob took all that vagueness and made it sharp and hard. But the way the band showcased those songs was through a deeply safe take on rock music - vaguely glossy, vaguely organic, vaguely everything. ![]() Their old records had grace and power and melodic sophistication. Heartthrob is, to my ears, a vast leap beyond anything the duo had done before. For these fans, Tegan And Sara abandoned their confessional-punk roots for shallow, generic pop music, losing an essential part of themselves in a sad quest for mass acceptance. For all I know, they’re a vast chunk of the duo’s old fanbase. I see these people online they’re out there. ![]() There are longtime Tegan And Sara fans who jumped off the bandwagon when the duo released 2013’s Heartthrob, their last album. ![]()
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