A few songs later, the pitch-shifted vocals of ‘I’m Okay’ take Tegan and Sara somewhere close to hyperpop territory. Those demos evolved into the album’s opening twofer: the scuzzy power-pop blast of ‘I Can’t Grow Up’ and the more reflective mid-tempo ‘All I Want’, both of which feature off-kilter vocal loops. ‘Crybaby’ sprung up from a couple of “glitchy, lo-fi” demos that Sara made at home during the pandemic using the sampling app Keezy. Vincent collaborator John Congleton, it’s a quirky and incredibly hooky alt-pop record that could be the duo’s most sonically surprising effort yet. No one could accuse Tegan and Sara of falling into that trap with their new album ‘Crybaby’. “But I think that that’s why bands break up: they get bored because they’re doing the same shit.” “I also think more bands could do that, but they’re afraid and that’s totally fair,” Tegan says. In the past, the duo have pivoted from emo-leaning indie to brightly-coloured pop. She attributes the group’s “freedom to take risks” to the fact their fans connect to both her and Sara as songwriters rather than belonging to any particular genre of music. “Aesthetically and sonically, we’ve been allowed to move around because we moved from the beginning, so we’ve always been a bit of a nomadic band in that sense,” says Tegan. It also turns out to be generous when each Quin talks for longer than her allotted time while maintaining a level of engagement many would struggle to muster at 9am, the local time in Vancouver where both sisters have homes with their respective wives.Īnyway, back to what sets Tegan and Sara apart and keeps them vital. They still stand out now, something Tegan acknowledges by saying matter-of-factly: “We’re not like every other band.” She’s the second Quin sister NME speaks to in a kind of Zoom relay: before the chat, we’re told the duo “prefer to interview separately”, a policy that seems sensible given that video calls can be awkward enough. “I said, ‘Yes this is my life, and yes you should care’,” Tegan sang on ‘Clever Meals’, an assertive and self-aware highlight from that album. The Canadian duo stood out when they self-released their debut LP ‘Under Feet Like Ours’ in 1999: not just because they were identical twin sisters, but also because they were out and proud queer women navigating the male-dominated world of indie rock. After all, nearly every band starts out wanting to last the distance, but many stumble when their fanbase shrinks or they encounter “creative differences”. As Tegan and Sara ready their latest album ‘Crybaby’, due in October, it feels like an apt time to ask about longevity.
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