Tegan & Sara – Sainthood

Canadian duo crank out the powerpop on album number six

Reviewing Tegan & Sara’s work is difficult, if only because I’m pretty sure that what has hampered the group’s success – their open lesbianism, the fact that they are twins , and the perversely popular idea that they might have sex with each other – are also the reasons that so many people are enamored with them.

For the record, anyone with a passing knowledge of lesbianism not accrued from Hardcore Coed Carpet Munchers 12 will know that the incest thing is extremely unlikely. Sorry boys!

I originally tried to draft a review without mentioning all of this, but that was impossible, if only because the twins themselves play up these aspects in their work and its promotion. But if I had to say something about the music itself, I’d say:

In this release, Tegan & Sara crank out a pop album, one prey to the kind of brick-walled mastering that has plagued the genre since the late nineties.

It’s pleasant listening, with well-structured, hook-laden tracks (highlights include Arrow, Alligator, and Paperback Head), but not transcendental. However, if I am right about this band, their fans, and their critics, the music itself is peripheral here.

To give the album a shit review would imply that the Quin sisters would have gotten nowhere without their lesbianism, which is not only untrue, but also would be to indulge in the cheapest kind of homophobia.

Unfortunately for both myself and the Quins, however, this is merely a better-than-average album from a duo whose personal lives cannot help but overshadow their work.