Dragonette Come Home: Wandering Toronto Band Returns for New Year's

Canadian electro-pop trio Dragonette has spent the past year touring, preparing and releasing their third album, Bodyparts. But, somewhere in between all that work, band members -- and husband and wife -- Martina Sorbara and Dan Kurtz managed to relocate their home from England back to their hometown of Toronto.

It's the place to be now.

"Toronto's changed a lot in the past five or so years," Kurtz tells Spinner. "[Drummer Joel Stouffer] has been here for a while; he paved the way and said it's okay to move back."

Sorbara jokingly mimics Stouffer, adding, "[Mayor] Rob Ford is out, come back!"

Having spent so many years across the pond, Sorbara and Kurtz admit that being away from home helped them develop their music and push their limits, which is obvious on Bodyparts.

Sorbara describes the experience as being in a vacuum.

"It was more about taking ourselves out of our comfort zone and away from our families and our past," she says.

"It was like being the very, very smallest fish in a very big sea," Kurtz continues. "To call yourself a musician in London... those are some very big shoes to fill so maybe you tried a bit harder."

Although back in Canada for now, Sorbara and Kurtz don't think that their return will change their musical dynamic too much. The "allure of traveling" will continue to keep them on their moving.

"It's something that we get addicted to," Kurtz says, about staying on the move. "We miss our homes when we're away, but the second you're home, you're like, 'Right, when is that suitcase getting packed again?'

"If we were to only stay in Toronto, I think it would change things significantly, but I'm not too worried about that. We're constantly moving around, playing shows."

While the band continues to tour into the new year, they will also attempt to pen some new songs. Having rode the success of their 2010 hit collaboration with Martin Solveig on "Hello," we asked if there were any more collaborations the band wished to achieve in the future.

"Snoop," Sorbara responds, immediately. Dogg or Lion? "Snoop Liger... I don't think we're mellow enough, though."

Kurtz chimes in with his own dream collab: "Carly from the American X Factor. She's got some melisma going on and she absolutely slayed it, so we're going to try and work with her."

Dragonette now ends their year with a New Year's Eve performance in Niagara Falls alongside fellow Canadian pop stars Nelly Furtado and Hedley. Ready to tackle the holiday season in their own way, the band has also recently released a Christmas song, but not your typical cheerful jingle.

"It's more like a breakup song at Christmas time," Sorbara explains, about their song "Merry Xmas (Says Your Text Message)."

"It never crossed my mind to write a Christmas song," she continues. "It was just something that came to mind when I went on a walk after writing other stuff and I saw the word 'Xmas,' which made me think 'Xmas... text message.'"

The song is a kiss-off to an old flame and is quite the explicit holiday melody as Sorbara sings "Thanks a lot, but fuck you," in response to a "Merry Xmas" text message.

Stouffer adds, "Christmas must be a popular time to break up with someone."