Back in the day when Much Music was actually worth turning on I happened upon a pair of girls with a video that caught my eye. You don’t hear very much catchy Canadian folk-rock on mainstream television, so when you do you must stop and take notice.
Tegan and Sara hail from Calgary, Alberta and they are near identical twins, who play together with a near identical style. With their 3rd full length (studio-produced) album set to hit the stores in September it makes sense to look back and see where these folk-rock stars of the Canadian chick-rock scene started from. The first album, ‘This Business of Art’ was produced by known other than Hawksley Workman, who also plays many of the instruments on the tracks. An excellent album whether heard with the heavy production on cd, or done acoustically in a small church somewhere in the city of Toronto (with Kinnie Starr opening nonetheless). Album number two was a definite change and potential growth for the sisters. With new producers and a new sound, it took some getting used to but in the end it is a solid album.
The album comes in 2 halves as far as I’m concerned. The first half is louder, the second half, softer. For today I like the first half better; Ask me tomorrow and I’ll probably have changed my mind. I won’t go into details over each song because they’re all great for different reasons that are ultimately the same. Good lyrics, reasonably harmonies, clever melodies. If you listen to only 1 or 2 songs from the album, try out ‘Living Room’ and ‘Time Running’. It’ll give you a good taste of them, and honestly, who can resist a song that can pull off using a banjo (Living Room).
Are these girls geared to be the next big Canadian celebrities? Not a chance.
Will you like their music? I won’t hold my breath.
Is it fantastic regardless? Absolutely.
By: Erin Hamayda
