![]() With its lack of cracks and steady pulse, it packs an even stronger punch than Heartthrob. For those who revelled in it, Love You To Death is even more spectacular. The album gently glides out with the pulsating Hang On Tonight, one of the record’s most affecting tracks.įor those who were disappointed with Tegan and Sara’s initial movement into pop, you’re probably going to stay sour. Meanwhile, the division of the sisters’ vocals is unspoiled, particularly noticeable on piano ballad 100x. Boyfriend calls out the confusions of a closeted girl That Girl bemoans the tiresome decay of a relationship and BWU comments (perhaps politically) on the necessity of marriage, concluding that “we don’t need a white wedding”. There’s added depth in the lyrical content too, moving beyond Heartthrob’s dichotomy of pain and pleasure. ![]() Crisp electro beats meld with glossy echoes on Dying To Know, while the slick Stop Desire is the cool cousin of Heartthrob’s Closer. Instead, there’s a stronger incorporation of dance styles. LYTD features sharper production and aside from lead single Boyfriend, the‘80s inflections are less apparent. Although the twins’ songwriting made Heartthrob an incredible record, it was let down by sluggish sonics. However, Love You To Death isn’t a repeat, but a significant step upwards. There are many similarities between the two records:both are concise, at ten songs each, both are laden with synths, and both generously dish out lurrrve feelings. It leans further into the electropop sound established on 2013’s Heartthrob. Like Heartthrob, this is pop music that is all heart all the time, and for that, the sisters deserve every accolade that comes their way.Tegan and Sara have reliably evolved across their eight album career, which makes Love You To Death their most unsurprising offering yet. Their honesty and intelligence shine through at all times, and they take the sublime parts of the modern pop landscape, while giving no time to the ridiculous. Love You to Death is a brilliant consolidation of what Tegan and Sara started on Heartthrob, taking their deeply felt songs to the masses without losing any of what made them so great, so real, and ultimately so relatable no matter what one's situation in life may be to begin with. Their ballad game is strong, too, with Sara's breathtaking piano-led "100X" leading the way and the album-ending, montage-ready "Hang on to the Night" very close behind. The rollicking "Dying to Know," the punchy "Stop Desire," and "B/W/U," which clothes its sadness in bubbling synth pop, would have been highlights on Heartthrob. Maybe none as splashy as the previous album's "Closer," though "U-Turn" comes close, but the overall catchiness level is just a little bit higher here. The harsh truths of "Boyfriend" or "That Girl" aren't typical in pop music and that's why the duo are able to connect with listeners on a deeper level even as the huge pop hooks have them singing along.Īnd there are lots of hooks on Love You to Death. Their version of pop music doesn't involve California girls or disco balls, AutoTune or EDM.īeneath the freshly scrubbed surfaces, the songs are as powerful and real as anything they did as an acoustic duo or an alt-rock band. In the middle of it all are the stripped-raw, painfully honest vocals of the sisters telling the truth and laying themselves emotionally bare. Their next album, 2016's Love You to Death, stuck to the same basic template, retaining Greg Kurstin as producer and surrounding their heartbreak ballads and empowering new wave rockers with glitteringly clean synths, percolating drum machines, and state of the art production. Turns out the sisters are great pop vocalists, too. Their slickly produced modern pop sound also gained them lots of new fans in return without sacrificing the intense emotions, lyrical insight, and songcraft their earlier albums delivered. Tegan and Sara have never been shy about changing up their sound, but 2013's Heartthrob was their biggest leap yet, one so drastic that it left some of their fans behind.
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