Tegan & Sara

One Liner: Identical twins churning out the indie tunes

Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, indie folk, synthpop, indie rock, pop

Home: Calgary

Poster Position: Level 3 (7)  
Weekend Two Only.  

Saturday.

Thoughts:  Never a great sign when you look up from some work thinking to yourself that you need to find something to listen to, only to realize that this band has been playing for a few hours.  Definitely doesn't make me feel like this is a top tier band for me, personally.

Identical twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin are Canadians who started making music together when they were 15.  One of their first songs was called "Tegan Didn't Go to School Today," and was recorded onto a cassette tape at their house.  They started really recording music in 1997, and won something in Calgary called Garage Warz, which granted them studio time that they used to record their first professional demo.  At first they were Sara and Tegan, but that got misheard as Sara Antegan and so they flipped it.  Their mainstream success apparently didn't pop until 2004's So Jealous, but they have grown more and more popular since then.

Are identical twins badass or what?  Like, how freaking awesome to be able to just look like another human and go do shit in their name anytime you want.  My identical twin would hate my guts for all the crap I would do in their name.

The only song I actually know that involves them is the "Everything is Awesome" song from the Lego Movie, which is genius.  Although, for reasons that are likely deeply rooted in my psyche, I always switch up the lyrics to be "everything is awful."   And "Walking With a Ghost" rings a bell even if I don't really actually know it.  But the vast majority of these songs are pretty, wordy, indie tunes that sort of remind me of a less affected First Aid Kit.  I randomly get a feel for Ace of Base here and there as well, or the "I Love It!" singer people.  The biggest tune is "Closer," from 2013's Heartthrob, with 83.4 million streams.

That is a fun tune!  Bouncy and happy tune with lyrics about getting together!  Feels like it would be a fun one to jam in the park and jump around and yell out.  I get that one.  The vast majority of their songs are not nearly so energetic.  That 2004 album So Jealous has the other top streamer - "Where Does the Good Go," with 64.8 million streams.  No other song in their catalog breaks 50 million streams.

Apparently featured in Grey's Anatomy, the badge of honor for any respectable indie rock band in the last 15 years.  Meh.  What I notice about this band is that their most popular songs are mostly the ones that are louder, faster, peppier.  Once you dive into the full catalog, you just get mired into a ton of milquetoast stuff.  But their peppier stuff is pretty good.  I doubt I'd go see this one in the end.