Tegan And Sara Break Habits With Sainthood

Take someone out of their element or remove their routines and idiosyncrasies and they're likely to feel pretty strange about it.

Sara Quin says that's exactly how she felt when she and her sister, Tegan Quin, began writing songs in New Orleans for what would eventually become Sainthood, Tegan And Sara's sixth studio album. The twins, who the media have painted as "bickerers" and who've become known for their quirky on-stage banter, decided to write together for the very first time.

"You know, [feeling weird] has nothing to do with Tegan 'cause people are like, 'Did you guys fight the whole time?' It wasn't about fighting," Quin says. "It was more about, you know, for me, I've been writing songs since I was 14 and that's almost 15 years of writing a certain way.

"It was weird for me to be in a situation where someone was in the room with me. I'm a creature of habit. I'm habitual. I do things in the same way over and over and over again, and writing songs for me, I sort of zeroed in on a process that would work for me, and for the last, probably seven or eight years I've been doing it that way.

"So to suddenly be not in the place where I usually write, not using the tools that I usually use to write, being in a room with just another body, like another human being, that's not familiar to me in that process.

"It was uncomfortable. We were still productive. I think some of the songs are really cool, and I would like to continue to put ourselves in that position. Maybe not all the time, but I think so much interesting music could come out of it.

"But I was definitely uncomfortable. I wouldn't blame that on Tegan; I would just blame that on the fact that we've never done that before and it's kind of awkward."

Ultimately, none of the songs Tegan And Sara wrote together in New Orleans made it on Sainthood. But Quin says it was one of several changes the duo made while writing and recording the disc.

Although the twins were set to work with Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla again (Walla produced 2007's The Con), Quin says she pondered how best to make the album different before she and Tegan started working on it.

"I just kept thinking, 'What are some of the variables that we can change in terms of the writing process and the inspiration for the lyrics and for melodies and co-writing and stuff like that?'" she says. "'How can we adjust some of our natural styles or our natural processes to potentially provoke or inspire something different?'"

Sainthood, which is based on a set of lyrics from Leonard Cohen's "Came So Far For Beauty," examines the act of loving someone, and considers how "exemplary behaviour" in relationships (whether they work out or not) makes one into a secular saint of sorts.

Tegan And Sara recorded the album with Walla and producer Howard Redekopp (The New Pornographers, Said The Whale), who co-produced 2004's So Jealous. Walla played on the album, which was something he also did with The Con, but this time he played as a member of a full band, recording the disc (for the most part) live off the floor.

Recording as a band was yet another change for Tegan And Sara. So Jealous and The Con were heavy on overdubs, and while there are still overdubs on Sainthood, Quin says recording live off the floor prevented the duo from using overdubs in the same way they had in the past.

"Everybody's been talking a lot about the tempo of the album, the feel of the album," Quin says. "They say it feels quick and energetic, and I love hearing that because what you're hearing a lot of the times, the majority of it really, truly is like a performance.

"We literally performed those songs dozens and dozens and dozens of times and then we would go and listen for a full performance. Not like, 'Oh, there's a great drum and bass take. We'll edit this and do that.' It was like, 'That's a great band take and that will go on.' So I feel like the album has the energy of people in a room playing music."

Quin also says making Sainthood completely changed how she thinks about the recording process. She describes a conversation she had prior to the album's release with Death Cab For Cutie drummer Jason McGerr (who plays on the record) in which she said she thought the recording process changed her as a performer.

"I was telling him about rehearsals. I was like, 'You know, this record changed me as a performer because I didn't like to rehearse. I didn't like to practice. I know that we have a natural instinct and a natural intuition on stage and it gets us by and whatever.

"But I feel like the guy who just discovered working out and energy drinks or something. I'm really into those powders right now,'" she says. "He was laughing really hard, but I loved playing so much.

"We essentially would play for, like, eight hours a day with Jason and Chris to get the songs feeling like they'd got the take that we needed and now I'm addicted to it.

"It's like the adrenaline and satisfaction of being so tired at the end of the day but knowing that your muscles are creating a memory and therefore you're just a better band."