Tegan and Sara, 'Sainthood'

Release date: October 27, 2009
Record label: Sire
Official Web site: http://www.teganandsara.com/

The buzz: Precocious pop prodigies no longer, Tegan and Sara Quin are now closing in on 30, with a decade of tours and albums in their rearview. Their explosion in popularity in recent years has neither diminished the duo's considerable charm nor stunted their artistic growth; 2007’s “The Con” was their best work yet. For “Sainthood,” they again hit the studio with producer Chris Walla, and took some conceptual inspiration from Leonard Cohen’s exquisite “Came So Far for Beauty.”

The verdict: “Sainthood” offers a reliable surplus of sharp hooks—and an admirable amount of adventure. Tegan and Sara wrote collaboratively for the first time—including a “super-raw” joint session in New Orleans that was scrapped but kick-started the album—and they’ve become increasingly smitten by genre-hopping, electronic embellishments and the dance floors of the ‘80s (there’s even a repeated reference to a “material girl”). Consistency has been a struggle on some past albums, and that crops up again on “Sainthood”—let’s just say that the punked up gloss of “Northshore” won’t be making the greatest hits collection—but the good tracks are almost always knockouts.
 
Did you know? Also available to enhance your “Sainthood” experience: the three-book box set “On, In, At,” featuring lots of photos, journal entries and more.