Album Review: Tegan And Sara - Heartthrob

12 February 2013 | 5:23 pm | Ben Preece

Another interesting chapter in the Tegan And Sara discography that, as a whole, is one of the finest in modern music.

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Tegan And Sara have made no qualms about dabbling in the pop world in the past or in their mission statement for this, their seventh long-player, to be something that will dazzle the mainstream. The qualms however will undoubtedly be coming from their legion of hardcore followers who have worshipped their previous output, music that can only be described as perfect little pop songs often piped directly from the heavens themselves. Here the uber-talented Quin twins stand brighter, shinier and more produced than ever before, pushing the commercial envelope armed with walls of synths and drum machines and acknowledging touchstones more akin to Madonna and The Breakfast Club than the pop-punk edge they always possessed.

Push aside the incandescent production from The Bird And The Bee's Greg Kurstin and you still have the same Tegan And Sara at the heart (and soul) of these pop jams, cleverly disguising the raw emotion, sharp lyrics and very distinct voices, which all thankfully remain firmly intact.

There's no way around it – Tegan And Sara have gone pop. But rather than leaping to conclusions and screaming “sell out”, the pair's clear love of the pop record has been indulged for once – see it as them trying on a new outfit of sorts, much like Sia did when she slipped on her dance shoes for We Are Born. It's a far cry from the outright perfection of 2004's So Jealous, the occasional experimentation that adorned The Con (2007) or even the pop they flirted with sporadically up until 2009's Sainthood, but it still writes another interesting chapter in the Tegan And Sara discography that, as a whole, is one of the finest in modern music.