Tegan & Sara’s new album “Sainthood” arrives on October 27th but I’ve gotten a hold of an early copy and I thought this would make an excellent first real post for MediaDecay.

 

Sainthood feels like the logical next step after “The Con”.  It’s got a lot of the same sort of synthy beauty and that sort of odd feeling The Con had, yet it also has a similar feel to “So Jealous” as well.  Imagine if those those two albums had a baby and it’d be Sainthood.  Songs like the starter “Arrow” feel like they could be one of the faster, more uptempo tracks from The Con, yet that’s immediately followed by “Don’t Rush” which feels like it could’ve come straight off So Jealous.

 

You’ve probably heard the single “Hell” already.  If not you can listen to it streaming on teganandsara.com, or you could buy it on iTunes and get a bunch of extra b-sides with it.  It’s a pretty great choice for the first single.  It really represents the album well.  If you like “Hell”, you’ll enjoy the rest of the album.

 

This album really kicks off and doesn’t let up.  There’s no real slow tracks, everything is uptempo, usually driven by a backbeat that doesn’t let up. There’s moments where things get slower, but never get as slow as some The Con stuff.  “The Cure” and “Night Watch” are probably the closest you’ll get.  Like I said anything that threatens to be slow is immediately transformed by the drum part.  This is an incredibly danceable album.  I dare you not to find yourself moving to the music.

 

There is a real beauty to the songs.  The way the guitar and bass mixes in with the vocals and the drums  just feels right.  The lyrics are exceptional and every song seems so catchy that I’m sure I’ll be humming them for weeks.  A few sample lyrics:

All that I did for you seems so silly now/I’ve got the cure/I’ve got the cure for you

Run around on me/Sooner die without/Run around with me/Die without

 

The entire album is so thoroughly wonderful it’s hard to pick real standout tracks.  This really is a whole album deal.  You won’t just want one or two of the songs.  Obviously “Hell” comes to mind immediately but also one of the songs that strikes a chord is the closer “Someday”.  That song is really brilliant.  I think a lot of people are going to connect with it, it’s a real wake up call to do something with your life.  An excerpt:

Might paint something I wanna hang here someday/Might write something I wanna say to you someday/Might do something I’ll be proud of someday/Mark my words I’ll be something someday

It’s a perfect closer because it’s this great song that you can scream along to, it’s got an awesome groove, and it ends the album on an incredible high.

 

Tegan & Sara are known for having great live shows and in that tradition they are once again embarking on a huge tour for Sainthood.  You can find all the dates on their site.  Apparently the first few shows, like the NYC ones, they’re playing the entire album.  I personally have a great ticket for the October 30th show and you can count on a review of that making it’s way to this site afterwards.  You can buy the cd version of Sainthood at Amazon.

 

Check out samples of all the tracks below, and buy em if you like em