Sister-core duo Tegan and Sara keeping it simple with Heartthrob

ARE you ready for the Ace of Base revival?

tegan and sara

ARE you ready for the Ace of Base revival?

Tegan and Sara are. "It feels like we've been around for a million years doing the indie rock thing so it was time to change it up," says Tegan, one-half of the Calgarian sister-core duo, at a million miles an hour.

She's in the mood to think fast and talk even faster. Before writing their seventh album, Heartthrob, the siblings went back to the post-grunge heydays of bubblegum pop with a strychnine aftertaste. You could say they saw the sign.

"I loved Ace of Base as a teenager when they came out with the song The Sign and then All That She Wants was played at every school dance like nine times a night. They had this ability to write light and poppy dance songs but there was also this depth to their lyrical content" she sputters.

"So when I was starting to write Heartthrob I was listening to a lot of '90s music like Tom Petty and Erasure and I was going back through all my old records and Ace of Base kept popping up for me. I was literally like, 'I'm just gonna play synths, keep it simple with a simple chord progression like Ace of Base would have done' and I came up with Closer."

Just like Yeah Yeah Yeahs did with It's Blitz, Tegan and Sara semi-abandoned their guitars on lead single Closer and took a trip to Synth City. Racking up two million YouTube views in two months, it's a gamble that's paid off.

"On the first 10 listens, Closer is supposed to just be a make-out song but then when you actually get into the meaning you know it's about nostalgia and you're looking back 15 years and remembering a time that was innocent and easier," she says. "I feel very nostalgic for a time like that because I feel now that my life is so complex and as you suffer through break-ups and rejection and love becomes less simple, specifically when the bridge comes in the song 'Here comes the dreams of you and me' it's very dark and that time has passed and that relationship didn't come to fruition and there's something so disappointing with that," she says. And breathe.

"So you can listen to it and be like 'WOOOO! Gym song! I love this song!!' but the more you listen to it you're like 'Oh man, this is depressing too?"'

The strychnine is well disguised within the drunken-karaoke-at-the-prom-afterparty film clip. "Exactly. Sometimes I think our band has been limited by indie rock," she ponders, slowing her machine gun dialogue, "and we've been very shoe-gazer and self-deprecating about our past records but I don't feel that way right now, I feel empowered and upbeat. We wanted to take a bite out of the mainstream," she says, adding "I think the depth of Tegan and Sara is still there."

Curiously, Tegan didn't wax lyrical about words until she'd past her teenage years.

"It wasn't until I was in my 20s that I listened closely to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers American Girl and went 'Oh my God this song's not about American girls? It's about suicide, what!?' And that's very similar to how I write songs, on the surface they can have an obvious meaning and underneath the surface listeners start to digest the record it can have several meanings," she says.

I'm Not Your Hero is the highpoint of the album. "We love that song. The song really resonates because it's about not always being accepted by people in your own community. It's about feeling alienated from your peers," she explains. "Because we're queer women in a male dominated industry the song is about speaking out and being brave ... even when you don't feel brave."

I'm Not Your Hero reintroduces the unrequited yearning evident in Back In Your Head, replacing the tactile guitar line with swirling keys and more whoosh for the toosh.

It's not as good as Back In Your Head - what Tegan and Sara song is? - but it pangs in all the right places.

Producer of two tracks Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck) "really worked us over in the studio. He's worked with M83 and I liked his grit and all the nuances."

HEAR Heartthrob (Warner) out tomorrow.

SEE Tegan and Sara

NSW & ACT
April 25: Sydney Opera House, Sydney; April 27: Groovin' The Moo, Glen Oak; April 28: Groovin' The Moo, Canberra
QLD
April 30: Tivoli Theatre, Brisbane; May 5: Groovin' The Moo, Townsville
VIC
May 2: Palais TheatreMelbourne; May 4: Groovin' The Moo, Bendigo
SA
May 7: Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide
WA
May 9: Metro City, Perth, Australia; May 11, Groovin' The Moo, Bunbury

For ticket prices, sales and information see www.teganandsara.com/shows