Tegan and Sara, Heartthrob: New Album Aims to be Pop With 'Edge'

Tegan and Sara have written their fair share of love songs. Currently promoting their upcoming seventh full-length, Heartthrob, the Canadian twin sister duo have collectively penned a number of songs about the trials and tribulations when it comes to matters of the heart. But, as Tegan Quin admits, there was one kind of love song she had never tried her hand at until now.

After writing an initial slew of songs and sending them to Sara, Tegan was reminded to challenge herself by Sara.

"She told me to be brave and to write something that I've never covered before," Tegan tells Spinner. "And the only thing I've never written about was love -- like real, happy love."

Their first single, "Closer" is the product of this. The song is a synth-laden slice of pop perfection that highlights that moment of happiness people experience right before something happens with someone you like. It's upbeat and it's the happiest love song Tegan has written to date, but she advises listeners to pay a little more attention to the subtext.

"There is an edge to these songs," she warns. "There's nostalgia to it and the subtext, which is that none of these relationships I wrote about worked out and some didn't even happen. It was about the second before it didn't happen, so there's a pining.

"I don't want people to listen and think, 'Yeah, this is such a hot song,' I want them to think of when they tried to make out with that girl and she wasn't into it!"

So, the goal of Tegan and Sara's music is to make everyone miserable then?

"Basically," Tegan jokes.

"I've been saying that 'Closer' is like 'Dancing in the Dark' or 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,'" continues Sara. "It's silly and fun, but if you stripped everything away, all the bells and whistles, at the heart of it is a really complex song and I like that kind of juxtaposition of pop music where I'm having the time of my life, but when you start thinking about the lyrics, the song is really depressing -- 'Dancing in the Dark' is depressing!"

Even though the duo wants their fans to delve deeper into the darker meanings behind their songs, they were determined to make their most positive pop record ever. Having dipped their toes in everything from pop-punk guitar rock to club-banging dance beats, Tegan and Sara were ready to fully embrace the pop that always underlining their melodies.

"I wanted to make a pop record that had some of the same sensibilities as pop music in the '80s and '90s," Sara explains. "I grew up listening to Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, the Pretenders, the Smashing Pumpkins -- that's what pop music is to me."

In order to break out of the indie rock pigeonhole they created for themselves, Tegan and Sara decided to switch up producers, leaving Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla (whom they worked with for their past two records) behind for Mike Elizondo and Greg Kurstin.

"The process involved a lot of the same elements, but there was just a willingness to push the songs further," Sara says. "With our previous records, once we demoed the songs, we wanted to protect them and not fuss with them, let them be what they are, and I think it would be safe to just keep doing that."

Sara admits the process of letting someone new in to challenge the songs and force them to re-arrange and re-write songs seems elementary and "probably what a lot of bands do" but this was a first in the band's decade-plus career.

"I had become so comfortable with Chris, but I think forcing ourselves into a new working relationship with somebody else allowed us to take the risks that we needed to take on this record."

"I think what we're doing feels like growth," Tegan adds. "And we'll continue doing it as long as we're inspired.

"People always claim that they're more inspired and write better music when they're depressed, but I think Sara and I have proven that we're not motivated when we're not happy. Right now, we're both really happy and we're really motivated."

That being said, the one working relationship Tegan still finds the most comfort in, but the strangest, is of course the one she has with her sister.

"There is something ridiculous about our lives," Tegan admits. "It's been a giant, adult sleepover for the last 200 days and it's also just strange to be in a band with her; there's something very strange about never detaching from your sister.

"We might not have known it at the time, but this is why geography has played such an important part in our lives, living on different coasts, we needed that time to grow some independence from each other so we aren't those weird tennis twins who have an apartment together."

Listen to Heartthrob right now.

Watch Tegan and Sara's "Closer" Video

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