Canadian super twins Tegan and Sara just dropped their seventh studio album, Heartthrob, on Tuesday. It's definitely a departure from the rest of their indie folk-rock oeuvre, and it's being met with universally positive reviews. With good reason: it's irresistibly fun, incredibly luscious, and filled with enough of their eerily beautiful harmonies to keep even the most diehard fans happy. (Probably.)
It's all new-wave synth and drum machines, almost every track insists the listener gets up and dance on her bed. "Closer", the single released late last year (video above) sounds like if Human League and Robyn had really groovy twins. I mean this in the best way possible, but it sounds like an 80s song created for a movie shot in 2010.
The new sound is due largely to the producer Greg Kurstin, who's responsible for some of Ke$ha, Pink, and Kelly Clarkson's hits. It shows.
While the album might be a very different from their others, the lyrical content is pretty similar. These twins love to sing about relationships, and god love them for it. Thinking about feelings, love, sex — and all the messiness of feelings, love, and sex — is their forte, no matter what's playing in the background.
Maybe this album will reel in a new legion of fans, and trick them into loving Tegan and Sara's earlier indie efforts? As for how hardcore Tegan and Sara fans will react, I guess only time (and album sales) will tell. When bands make a significant transition, it's usually met with backlash. Is this a sellout? Or evolution? Or just two talented people having a really good time with music?