Tegan And Sara Make Changes For Sainthood

08/10/09 5:28pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Tegan And Sara's upcoming sixth album, Sainthood, is a bit of a departure for the Quin twins — both in terms of its sound and how it was created.

Sara Quin told Stereogum the follow-up to 2007's The Con was recorded with very few overdubs. Previously, the Quin twins recorded with many overdubs, which became tricky when trying to figure out how to arrange the songs for live performance.

Sara Quin says this makes the album sound more like it was recorded by a band than anything they've ever released.

Sainthood, which is due out Oct. 27, is also the first time the sisters have written a record together. That sounds a bit ridiculous, but in the past they wrote songs separately (Tegan lives in Vancouver, while Sara lives in Montreal). They wrote The Con by sending each other demos through the internet.

For Sainthood, which draws its title from a Leonard Cohen lyric, they relocated to New Orleans for a week earlier this year and focussed on writing together instead. And in case you're wondering, no, they didn't stop bickering when writing.

"I've never written a song when someone's in the room or around or in the house," Sara Quin told Stereogum. "I'm a total weirdo!

"It really triggered the womb. I was like, 'Get out of my space, seriously.' But I don't blame the dysfunction of our sister relationship. I blame the dysfunction of us as individuals."

Tegan And Sara plan to tour extensively in support of Sainthood, but have not yet announced tour plans. For now, you can see them at the Rifflandia Festival in Victoria, B.C. on Sept. 25.