The best Canadian import since Wayne Gretzky, twin sister duo Tegan and Sara have built a fan base by combining indie pop sensibility and a dash of punk rock aesthetic.
Their latest effort, Sainthood, is a much more mellow and balanced album then its predecessor, The Con. There’s not a single bad on the record, the overproduction that ravaged The Con is thankfully gone, and the sisters incorporate electronic sounds more naturally than ever before. Yet, something’s missing.
Sainthood’s shortcomings stem from the upsetting lack of the group’s signature brand of emotional fragility. As a result, the handful of knock-your-socks-off good songs that have been a staple of their previous records are nowhere to be found. The only track that is immediately gripping is the straightforward, Chuck Taylor-stomping rocker “Hell,” which sounds like Tegan and Sara doing an Good Mourning-era Alkaline Trio song (aka awesome).
Instead of the killer standout tracks, the album is strewn with songs that do nothing wrong, but also only do a thing or two very well. “Arrow” starts of the album with some sharp lyrical imagery, “Northshore” bubbles with a frenetic blitz of loose guitars, and “The Cure” has an undeniable flow that is so stylistically right for the duo it’s astonishing they hadn’t hit tapped it before.
Other tracks just miss their mark completely. “Alligator” falls flat mainly because it’s clearly meant for a strong emotional pull but the music and lyrics don’t mix in an appealing manner. Even “On Directing,” one of the better songs of the group, seems bad on first listen do to it’s chorus of, “Go steady with me. I know it turns you of when I, I get talking like a teen. I get talking like a teen.” It’s only after multiple listens that the chorus’s wonderfully hypnotic stickiness becomes evident. It’s all mildly frustrating, but not because any of the songs are poor quality. It’s because Tegan and Sara have proved that they are capable of more.
Sainthood is like the best peanut butter sandwich you’ve ever had; it’s extremely solid and satisfying, but it’s hardly exiting.
Review Score: 7.5
*Expanded from a review in The Pacific Northwest Inlander*
2 Comments
Good review, man. I must say “Hell” is perhaps my new favorite song of all time. However, “Sainthood” really is nowhere as good as “The Con”, no doubt about it. It’s got some really catchy songs, and as you said, nothing on the record does anything wrong. I actually really like “Alligator,” probably because I’m a huge, huge Sara Quin fan. It isn’t their best album, but it’s easily one of the top ten albums that has come out this year.
~ A Musical Mind
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