by nickwan
The single from their upcoming album
Who says the Quins didn’t sound So Jealous anymore? Not that they’ve said that. But they did say that the upcoming album is all about a “band oriented focus”. What does that really mean? Well, Tegan and Sara (maybe more of Tegan this time around) gave us what that meant in the new preview into Sainthood with the release of their single, “Hell”. Ironically debuted at a church, the song is not really about fire and brimstone as one would like to think. The song, as the rest of the album is themed, is about the not-so-ideal relationship. The song takes a stab at what the Quin’s have tried to describe in their recently issued EKP for this album, “as we are driven to become anything else for someone, we sometimes become martyrs for our cause”. The song takes a stand on needing that second person to shine some light on what you’re going through when it comes to a relationship, and in this case some sort of break up/make up. In relation to the theme of the album, rather than trying to be a saint, maybe try to be more mortal and see what happens.
The song itself is something a lot different from the Tegan and Sara band camp. The intro could easily have been an intro to some post-hardcore band like Weezer or Far. Crap, it was even followed up by a very post-hardcore lick before the voice starts singing the verse. Even then, it sends hints of The Con and So Jealous through the stereo. This song could easily be a hit on alternative rock stations, like KROQ or Live 105, but will most likely not be heard for whatever lame reason. Rather, this song could be something vicious that we have yet to hear… what does “band record” mean? Tegan. Sara. These two girls started off, and for the most part have presently embodied, the singer-songwriter label. The production of The Con, as the DVD documented, was the guitar and vocals first and drums and bass last. How much more open-mic-night can you get when recording an album? At the moment, “band record” based off this single means a few things: 1) heavy guitar focus 2) music first. lyrics second. 3) guitar solos.
The heavy guitar focus was something TnS never really grabbed on to tightly. By “heavy guitar focus” I don’t mean “heavy” like metal… although this first song might sound “heavy” in that regard, that is not what I mean. By “heavy” I’m more defining it as a focus, if not the focus, of a song. Rampaging riffs, guitar solos, random guitar leads here and there… guitar-heavy. And this song weighs in on that definitely a lot more than any other TnS song.
Music first. Lyrics second. Okay, so it’s indie-pop and blahblahblah whatever. Yeah, sometimes the lyrics are a little on the cheesy side (I just want back in your head?) and “Hell” is leaning toward the cheese at times but if this is getting more band-like then a good amount of the time (not all the time) the lyrics will take a back seat. A great example: Weezer. They write anywhere from 20 to 50 songs and pick the best 10 for a record. Some lyrics from Rivers Cuomo’s “lyrically heavy” green album: “I can’t help my boogies; they get out of control. I know that you don’t care but I want you to know” (Weezer – Hash Pipe); “If you want it, you can have it but you’ve got to learn to reach out there and grab it” (Weezer – Photograph). That’s what happens when instrumentation takes shotgun and lyrics get the proverbial “bitch” seat. For a long time, Tegan and Sara both made good simple sounding music with great lyrics. Now, with the new outlook, can we hope for great, possibly technical, music with great lyrics?
Lastly, guitar solos. This song has one. Other Tegan and Sara songs surely had guitar or other instrumental solos. But do they stick out like a sore thumb like on this single? I can’t think of one. Was there one in “I Hear Noises”? [I'm listening to the song right now] Oh, yeah there is a weird feedback thing, possibly wahwah pedal, right before the bridge. I don’t think that counts though. So yeah, at the moment this is the most guitar solo-ish thing they’ve put out. I might eat those words…
Anyway, if this is what’s to come of the album, I’m looking forward to hearing Sara’s more progressive-sided input contrast to Tegan’s hooky/poppy side. Tegan’s song thusfar really sounds like something Jonah and the boys from Far would put out. I’m not kidding. So if Tegan makes it sound like Far, will Sara make it sound like… REM? Radiohead? Tool? Probably not Tool. That’d be weird. Although, I didn’t expect Brand New to pull off hardcore, so maybe Sara could pull of prog metal.
Four Scottish guys named Matt Morris, Steve Morris, Iain Dallas, and Daryl Rankin think they are California Dreamin’. Did you know that Scotland has a fascination with Unicorns? Such a fascination that many argue it is their official animal. This fun fact is much more interesting and mystical than the following song.