In an interview with John Doran prior to the release of Pet Shop Boys' 'Super' earlier this year, Neil Tennant described his bandmate Chris Lowe as having one interest: euphoria. Musically, that could mean a lot of things. You might find it on a dancefloor, or while disappearing into the wounded heart of a ballad. Perhaps it’s to be found as you hurtle into the pit or as a landscape rushes past your window, headphones clamped tight.
Pop music's attachment to euphoria runs deep. It exists in a turn of phrase coupled with a perfect melody, or in a personal truth finding wider resonance through three minutes that don't pretend to be anything other than a good time. Tegan and Sara have long known the power of a great melody, but rarely have they been so focused on exploring the crossroads of form and meaning as they are on 'Love You To Death'.
Having embraced synths with open arms on 'Heartthrob', an album with a sphere of influence that encompasses Taylor Swift and Katy Perry as much as Chvrches or Years & Years, their road has only twisted further from their old indie haunts here.
‘Love You To Death’ is resolute in its electronic palette, further suggesting that future appreciation of Tegan and Sara’s back catalogue will be neatly demarcated as pre and post-’Heartthrob’.
‘Sainthood’, their last album to rely on guitars, remains a wonderful collection of songs lacking cohesive presentation. Only Alligator might exist in their current neon world, but that record’s heartbroken sentiments are reflected back in the glimmering surface of ‘Love You To Death’.
There is power in pairing open-book lyrics with pop songs as good as the 10 assembled here, and Tegan and Sara know it. From Sara repurposing the early stages of her relationship with her long-term girlfriend to tip gender roles on their head during Boyfriend to the barbed I’m Dying To Know - “I’m dying to know, is the one you ended up with everything you wanted?” - there is no effort made to cloud their intentions.
They thrive when the stakes are high, examining elements of their past with absolute candour and diving into lust and romance without resorting to ironic distance. On U-Turn, perhaps the song that feels most like a summer smash, Tegan sticks with the policy: “I’ve been selfish so long I don’t know why you would ever stay.”
Their relationship with each other is another important element. The bickering and fighting once fostered by the pressure-cooker of the twins’ tour schedule has been buried, along with the idea of their records featuring ‘Tegan songs’ and ‘Sara songs’, and some of the finest moments on ‘Love You To Death’ find difficult moments from their past under the microscope.
The atmospheric White Knuckles and 100x, a spare, beautiful synth ballad, check in as tracks six and seven, with both discussing the tension and bursts of violence that nearly pulled their career from the tracks several years ago. “Breaking each other like knuckles in a fight,” runs the former. “You were someone I loved, then you were no-one at all,” Sara sings on the latter. “It was cruel of me to do what I did to you.”
‘Love You To Death’ rides roughshod over the idea of pop songs as empty vessels, further bolstering Tegan and Sara’s reputation as writers with a rare combination of wit, openness and cast-iron melodic instincts. Their embrace of pop on ‘Heartthrob’ was divisive but necessary, and ‘Love You To Death’ further underlines their importance in a busy landscape.
Tegan and Sara Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed June 22 2016 - LONDON KOKO
Thu June 23 2016 - LONDON KOKO
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