Tegan and Sara – Heartthrob (2013/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 36:28 minutes | 487 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork:Front cover | Source: HDTracks | © Vapor/Warner Bros.
Tegan and Sara have now released their 7th studio album – Heartthrob – as internationally-celebrated songwriters, performers, and artists. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, securing the band’s highest US chart position to date. Heartthrob doesn’t just sound different, it represents a more collaborative way of making music.
For the first time, the sisters actually wrote a lot of the songs together (in the past there were Tegan songs and Sara songs), and they surrendered more control than usual in the studio, dividing songs between 3 producers (Greg Kurstin, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and Mike Elizondo) and a handful of outside musicians to capture the sound they were looking for. “No one will confuse this with any of our other records,” Sara says. “It’s got a bigger, bolder, happier sound.”
On their 2009 album Sainthood, Tegan and Sara made some tentative steps into the pop mainstream by stripping their sound down to the bare essentials and delivering a batch of their hookiest songs to date. Four years later, on 2013’s Heartthrob, the duo dives into the pop mainstream headfirst. Working mainly with producer Greg Kurstin, the duo’s approach is slick and punchy with lots of synthesizers, programmed drums, and a sound that falls somewhere between Robyn and Katy Perry on the pop spectrum. While longtime fans might be a bit perplexed by the shift, they will find plenty of familiar ground to cling to as the record plays and the smartly written and tear-filled songs follow one after another. Indeed, the core musical values that have always made Tegan and Sara special, like their ability to write super-hooky melodies, their willingness to strip their emotions bare, and their powerful voices, remain fully intact on Heartthrob, and the shiny package that surrounds them only seems to have made their collective impact stronger. The insistent impact of the album’s opening track serves as a statement of intent — “Closer” comes bursting out of the speakers in a rush of barely contained emotion and sports the type of thrilling chorus that fills your heart with joy as you breathlessly sing along. The rest of the album has the same sonic impact and emotional power as it alternates between new wave-influenced rockers (“Goodbye, Goodbye,” “Drove Me Wild”) and moody and dramatic midtempo tracks (“Love They Say,” “How Come You Don’t Want Me”) that wouldn’t have been out of place on an early Cyndi Lauper record, before finishing with a pair of bleak synth pop heartbreak ballads (“Now I’m All Messed Up,” “Shock to Your System”) that make La Roux sound like Bananarama. After a long career spent making subtle adjustments to their approach, it took some real guts to make such a drastic change, and the gamble pays off for them. Heartthrob is the sound of Tegan and Sara taking on modern pop music head-on and winning in triumphant style. One would have to go a long way to find a pop record that is as easy to swallow, yet contains such depth. Welcome to the mainstream, Tegan and Sara…thanks for classing the place up a bit.
Tracklist:
01 – Closer
02 – Goodbye, Goodbye
03 – I Was A Fool
04 – I’m Not Your Hero
05 – Drove Me Wild
06 – How Come You Don’t Want Me
07 – I Couldn’t Be Your Friend
08 – Love They Say
09 – Now I’m All Messed Up
10 – Shock To Your System
Personnel:
Sara Quin – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Tegan Quin – acoustic guitar, keyboards, vocals
Greg Kurstin – guitar, bass, keyboards, piano
Justin Meldal-Johnsen – bass, guitar, keyboards
Rob Cavallo – guitar, percussion
Tim Pierce – guitar
Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards
Chris Chaney – bass
Dorian Crozier, Victor Indrizzo – drums, percussion
Joey Waronker – drums
Production:
Producers: Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Greg Kurstin and Rob Cavallo
Recording engineers: Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Greg Kurstin, Doug McKean, Mike Schuppan, Carlos de la Garza, Jesse Shatkin (assistant), Russ Wough (assistant)
Mixing engineers: Greg Kurstin, Manny Marroquin, Chris Galland (assistant) and Del Bowers (assistant)
Mastering engineer: Brian Gardner
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