Heartthrob - Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara, the quietly popular indie duo from Calgary, return in 2013 with their new record released for the end of winter in North America. First impressions shout out pop record at once, and is no surprise with new producer, known for his work with many other indie/pop artists. Heartthrob presents a new direction for the Quin sisters into the pop arena, something which they always seem to be closing in on with their emotional, lovesick lyrics and beautiful harmonies that proceed to get even better after every listen. They are far from their original work with their acoustic guitars in their living room and now are producing top notch radio hits with a heavily processed sound, yet they still feel like the same duo 10 years down the track.

Opening with their first single Closer, Tegan and Sara sound very different from their works from So Jealous and The Con. Instead, it reminded me of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in the upbeat, high energy track yet still they remain deep and focused on the lyrics as always. This high energy has always been with Tegan and Sara, as much as they love to play the melancholy stuff as seen in previous tracks like Speak Slow and Northshore. Here we see a whole record of this sound with a lot of delay effects and synth work. It continues with Goodbye, Goodbye and Drove Me Wild.

And then we hit a very familiar sound. I Couldn't Be Your Friend begins with a very familiar sound (I'll leave it to you to figure it out) and they are again showing this new energy and sound that will please old fans and bring new ones to their plethora of shows I'm the next 18 months. There are a variety of tracks on this new record that will are a lot of radio airplays and the success of the record has great potential to what the Canadian duo have released after a decade of writing and touring around the world. Though they have left the concept of the great record, they have presented us with a gem and are looking forward to a long road of touring ahead.

Tegan and Sara head to Australia May for Grooving the Moo and headlines shows (dates to be announced shortly). Heartthrob looks to be an early leader for album of the year though its the first of my review since resuming We Called It Music. See y'all soon!