album review: Tegan & Sara – Sainthood
Kinda rushed, not worth much more. Track by track with poor capitalization & punctuation because much of it was done one handed while holding a child, then a summary:
- Arrow – pop gem potential, fucked up by artsy clanky experimentalism. Hear that mechanical clanky distortion at the beginning? That’s a sign of the worst of what’s to come on this album, kind of luck a little baby “fuck you” to people who oh, I don’t know, liked T&S for their SOUND – the harmonizing pop-folk-rocky stuff.
Don’t Rush - wtf is up with the herky jerkyness? if youre trying to sound like a robot don’t shoot for one running on betamax, go for something that’s been oiled recently. again, i hear a gem in there, but its buried is some clanky crap. After listening to the rest of the album, this song is stronger than I first thought. By that I mean that the rest is weak enough to make this look good.- Hell – better than track 2
- On Directing – no way to make ‘talking like a teen’ not sound stupid, sorry. This is the “Like O, Like H” shit-stupid sounding bit for this album.
- Red Belt – didnt even notice it on 1st pass. annoying beeps. they are doing everything they can to decorate their voices with dung. this song is a throwaway.
- The Cure - whats up with singing like a guy? decent, nothing special
- Northshore - what song are they ripping here? cant remember. again with the boy sing/huffing. other than that, ok for t+s trying to do something fast… except for the part they are ripping “don’t x, don’t y, blah blah”
- Night Watch – this is a song? this song? sucks.
- Alligator - almost as bad as track 8, but not. Wait, it’s over? I get it, these are “short pop songs”. But where is the “pop”? Hell, even the “song” is questionable in some of these.
- Paperback Head – this would be a good song for some high school kids making music in their garage. they need a music editor to tell them to write another draft before publishing. then another. then just file it away if this is as good as it gets.
- The Ocean – ok this is a little more familiar now. like one of the weak songs from the previous album. sadly, it looks good on this album because the rest is so bleh.
- Sentimental Tune – like a weak song on the early albums, which makes it stronger than track 11.
- Someday – same as 12
All in all, the album as a whole makes decent background noise, but it’s not the kind of thing I want to listen to in my car. Or, really ever again now that I think about it. If the last album was a warning shot, this one is a torpedo of lameness to the groin, T&S, your buy on sight privileges are revoked. Potentially your “buy ever again” option too.
TWO OUT OF FIVE STARS
Not worth money.
It’s a shame they didn’t take my previous advice, and stop trying to be so damn serious. Or artsy. Or experimental/cutting edge, whatever. They’ve mostly traded in what I think was a great pop/rock/folk sound for some … bullshit really. I’m sure they like it, and I don’t mean anything personal by my comments. By all means, make and create what you love. Just don’t expect people to buy it.




Since they never sounded good to me, maybe now they would. Awesome.
[...] Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Independence Gaslight Anthem, The - Senor and the Queen [ep] Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream Bon Voyage – Lies Starflyer 59 – Ghosts of the Past (b-sides collection) Starflyer 59 – Dial M Tegan and Sara – Sainthood [My review] [...]