To even whisper the name Tegan & Sara is to have a thousand lesbians croon and giggle and twitter like schoolgirls. They are the Holy Grail of the modern day Sapphic crush, a veritable double combo of heart-on-the-sleeve singer songwriters who happen to both be lesbians… and sisters… and more importantly, twin sisters.
If they were gay men, they’d undoubtedly be in a completely different industry. But as Sapphic sisters, this duo create music that is compelling and desirable while being part punk and part pop in its swagger and drive. All of which is evident on their most recent release, Sainthood.
‘It definitely feels like a more cohesive kind of rock record than stuff from the past,’ Tegan Quin said of their most recent release. ‘But I still think it’s got the Tegan & Sara flavours that people have become accustomed to.
‘I mean, I think that we write pop songs and we write rock songs and we write folk songs, but there’s like an indie-rock-ness to them all. Sara and I obviously play on each others music live and on records and so people have gotten used to these kind of hooky, melodic vocals and background parts.
‘You know, I think all those elements are still on this record, it’s just a little more fast-paced and a little more poppy.’
The title of their sixth studio record comes from a Leonard Cohen song, Came So Far For Beauty. The lyric goes: I practiced all my sainthood / I gave to one and all / But the rumours of my virtue / They moved her not at all. At its simplest, it sums up an endearing need to be a good lover, to practice good loving and to give love that has merit in its faithfulness.
‘It really summed up sort of everywhere we were wanting to go with this record and we just really wanted to retain some of that energy for the record. Even though we didn’t use the song and we didn’t use the lyrics, the premise of Sainthood was this idea of practising being good, of being a good person but being good in a relationship most specifically.
‘(It was) the idea of practising being devoted and being passionate and being monogamous and all those things. So we kind of kept that as inspiration and the title of the record.’
Is it something Tegan practices herself?
‘I think so. I like to think so; my girlfriend might disagree but I think I am practising being pretty good.’
What is perhaps most unique about this album is that it features for the first time songs the two sisters have written together. It’s common knowledge that there is a distinct sound to a Tegan written song, and likewise for one written by Sara. But now there’s the possibility of a new sound, one that can be heard on a track like Paperback Head.
And it opens the door for a future record featuring songs solely written by the two sisters together. But what of the dozens of other songs the siblings wrote that never made it to the album? What’s their fate?
‘They all go into foster care,’ Tegan admitted. ‘No, I know, it’s so sad what happens to the songs that don’t get put on the record. I mean, most of them don’t ever see the light of day. Some of them will come out on iTunes special releases or last year we released all the demo songs to our record, so maybe we’ll do like a B-side record one day.
‘But you know, honestly, the truth is that most of the really great ones are the ones that get put on the record. So it’s not that the ones that don’t get released aren’t good, it’s just that the form that they’re in is so rough and ragged that it’s hard to even hear the potential.
‘I suppose if we get desperate later on in our career we can go back and cherry-pick the best ones and make a record out of them, but for now they just sit on a hard drive.’
Imagine getting your hands on that hard drive!
Tegan also dished the dirt on new single Alligator and that film clip, the one featuring the twins dancing for the first time. Sorry, people, but it ain’t them. Yes, between them Tegan and Sara have four left feet.
But it’s a whole lot of feet that will be stomping once the sisters hit our fair shores for their tour in May. ‘Oh my god, we’re just so excited to get there; we can’t wait,’ squealed Tegan about the impending tour. ‘Obviously we’re kind of obsessed with Australia. We’re pumped to be back.
And its possible Australia is a little bit obsessed with Tegan & Sara as well.
‘Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual!’
Tegan & Sara appear at Fremantle Arts Centre on Friday May 14 and Groovin’ The Moo in Bunbury on Saturday May 15. Sainthood is available now through Warner Music. www.teganandsara.com
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
