Right, then, I’m back from the land where breweries rally round the cry: “We are the four per cent!” And I can tell you, as mentioned last week, the debate over gun control has got nothing on the demand for live-vocal control. I can also tell you waking to news that your favourite local pub has been destroyed by fire, rather sucks.
Still, onward and upward, eh?
Just ask the singing sisters I first saw years ago performing under the billing Sara and Tegan. (The latter twin explained to me that the duo would shortly be changing its name out of respect for the fact that she is the older of the two.) The week has so far belonged to the veteran performers, the press breathlessly reporting that the new Tegan and Sara release is a “pop” record. Something you can even dance to. A new direction, it says here.
It’s a development in the sisters’ career that will shock fans that have not heard a Tegan and Sara album since 2002. Ah, but this is no mere pop record, we’re told: Heartthrob is an unabashed effort to scale the pop charts. It is Tegan and Sara’s, if you will, Death of a Ladies’ Man. Their Pronto Monto. Their Ethel Merman’s Disco Album. That, needless to add, is what sets this album apart. While other pop performers are releasing albums and singles in the hope that no one will buy them, Tegan and Sara are after commercial success.
Popular pop music. It’s a strategy that could well catch on. But remember, Tegan and Sara did it first.
Wig Bubbles 