Monday 13 September 2010
Polaris ’10 Shortlist: Tegan and Sara Sainthood
…And then there was one.
Hard to believe that just 10 weeks ago I started this unofficial countdown to next Monday’s Polaris Music Prize Gala, but here we are at the last of the shortlisted albums, Tegan and Sara‘s Sainthood. The Quinn sisters sixth album seems to have split the Polaris-watchers into two categories: those who are applauding Sainthood‘s nomination, and those who seem appalled by it.
Last November, I called Sainthood “an accomplished and well-formed record of emotional complexity, intelligence, and deep insight”, noting the duo’s growing maturity as songwriters and performers. Prior to this record, I incorrectly tagged Tegan and Sara as ‘emo-lite’: not quite pop, and not quite punk, angry young girls who weren’t afraid to rock out. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was a hardcore fan, but I’ve not ever encountered any outright hostility towards them. I was taken by surprise when I started reading comments about them being “too commercial” for Polaris to take them seriously. Can a band be “too commercial” when most casual music fans haven’t heard of them? I’ve asked around, and more often than not, the name Tegan & Sara doesn’t seem to register with people. I wonder if I played them some of the songs that have appeared on shows like Grey’s Anatomy, they would recognize them, but this is far from any kind of perfect scientific experiment and I’m not going that far.
Is it because they’re on a “major label”? I’d make the argument that Arts & Crafts, Merge and Outside are “major” labels based on their success and track record, so why should it matter that Tegan and Sara are indirectly signed to Warner Music? Are we really still dealing with this kind of stigmatization in 2010? The only conclusion that I can draw from all this is that Tegan and Sara straddle that precarious fence of not being indie enough for the diehards, and being just a bit too inaccessible to the masses.
Upon revisiting Sainthood, I wonder why more people aren’t on the Tegan and Sara bandwagon. They’ve got the songwriting chops to go up against the best of them. Sainthood reminds me a lot of Metric’s Fantasies in that each song songs like a potential hit. That was also one of the reasons why Fantasies was derided for its shortlisting last year: does a record of potential singles constitute a great album? Of course it does. Consistency can be a double-edged compliment to some, but I think that Sainthood benefits from its ease of play. At just under 37 minutes, Sainthood is the kind of album that doesn’t wear out its welcome. Chris Walla’s production may be a bit more glossy than I’d prefer, but Tegan and Sara’s songs where that shimmery sound well. In the context of the other shortlisted albums, it’s a breath of fresh air. Though I haven’t done it often, it’s easy to put this record on and sit and listen to it all the way through. I’m a random playback kind of guy; I make a playlist on my iPod and set it to shuffle and take what comes. Now that I’ve listened to Sainthood as a whole repeatedly, I realize that I know all these songs. I’ve actually listened to each as they’ve come up in random order. I don’t know of many 13-song long records I can say the same for.
I was surprised that Sainthood had enough support to make the shortlist, but after having spent a lot of time with these ten records over the last ten weeks, I think it’s a great choice. It’s still not my favourite out of the bunch, or the one I’d throw my support behind, but almost a year on, Sainthood is still a record I’m hearing new things in with each listen. That’s the sign of a great record for me.
Sainthood was released on October 27, 2009 on Sire Records.
MP3: Tegan and Sara “Alligator”
Myspace: Tegan and Sara
Facebook: Tegan and Sara
Twitter: Tegan and Sara
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This entry was posted on Monday, September 13th, 2010 at 8:30 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Austra
Sam September 14th, 2010 at 4:56 am
Thank you, someone who finally makes a unbiased judgment devoid of social stigma. These girl’s greatest accomplishment is their greatness downfall. They have been able to create such an organic devoted fan base, by just being themselves and honest, regardless of how certain labels have held them back. Yet those labels are still there which prevent people from even really listening to their music from a point of view where they would actually see how talented they are. Time will tell if they finally work out that formula that gets them mainstream success and off that metaphorical fence you mentioned.