Tegan and Sara, the Calgary-born identical twin indie-pop-rock duo, had nothing but the best intentions when it came time to record their sixth studio album, Sainthood.
The 29-year-olds prefer to write alone, in their respective homes at opposite ends of the country. This time they decided to try to force themselves to write together for a whole week, in a rented New Orleans mansion in autumn 2008.
Unfortunately, the place spooked them and they moved into a nearby hotel and booked a studio.
“That was terrifying,” said Tegan, who resides in Vancouver, while Sara lives in Montreal.
“There was just something about the building. I just was in shock about the house, and then we left. There was something really dark about this place. I was like, ‘This is the wrong place to write songs.’ We’re dark in terms of reflecting on our relationships and stuff, but that was like too dark.”
Added Sara: “It was almost like being a magician and showing up to do your magic trick, and you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I can do it.’ And I was really afraid that we were going to fail, and there was a lot of anxiety. So the beginning of the trip was really stressful. But it was weird because once we left the house and we got into the studio space (it was like), ‘I can do this.’”
Ultimately, only one co-written song (Paperback Head) made it onto Sainthood, whose lyrics cover such matters as the divorce of the girls’ parents almost 25 years ago, Sara’s split from her longtime girlfriend, and people’s desires to be the perfect partner in the first blush of a romance.
“I’d never been single when writing songs, like never,” said Sara, who is openly gay, as is Tegan. “So this was the first time I was writing single, and I was 27, and that was the age my parents were when they got divorced. So I was really struck by that — how traumatized I was by this breakup, ’cause it was like a five-year relationship, and we owned a house, and we had property and all of these things, and it was not something I got over really fast.
“It took me almost two years to get over it. And I was thinking about how difficult for my parents, not to just break up a relationship, but a marriage. And then to have five-year-olds ... I was thinking about how much trauma I was suffering through. And I was like, ‘How did they do that?’”
Added Tegan: “I can barely take care of my plants. I can’t even imagine having children!’ It’s sort of in your late 20s when you start to realize that everything is pretty breakable and replaceable and fluid.”
In addition to Sainthood, released in late October, Tegan and Sara also self-published a three-book box set called On, In, At — whose behind-the-scenes photographs and essays chronicle their 2008 U.S. tour, their joint writing session in New Orleans and their 2009 Australian tour.
Tegan and Sara’s Canadian tour dates:
Jan. 5-6 Vancouver, Orpheum
Jan. 7 Kelowna BC
Jan. 8-9 Calgary, South Jubilee Auditorium
Jan. 11-12 Edmonton, North Jubilee Auditorium
Jan. 13 Saskatoon
Jan. 14-15 Winnipeg, Burton Cummings Theatre
Jan. 18 Montreal, Place des Arts
Jan. 19 Toronto, Massey Hall
Jan. 20 Toronto, Kool Haus
Jan. 22-23 Ottawa, Bronson Centre
Jan. 25 Quebec City, Imperial de Quebec
Jan. 26 Fredericton NB
Jan. 27 Halifax
