Canadian indie pop twins Tegan & Sara have been releasing music and touring for the past 13 years and constantly experiment with their unique style. Their new single “Closer” was released this week and the sisters play the Harmony by the Bay Festival in Mountain View on September 29. We spoke with Sara while she was in Vancouver preparing for an October tour with The Black Keys.
Tegan and Sara “Closer”
Your new song “Closer” has a more electronic sound than your previous indie rock records. What influenced that change?
I don’t think of it necessarily a decision to be more electronic, we still recorded and wrote the way we normally do. For example, with Sainthood we played a lot as a five-piece band with a bass player, drummer, guitarist and keyboards so it took on more of a traditional rock sound. With this record we wrote using loops and keyboards. We took “Closer” in more of a pop direction than a rock direction.
We’ve done a lot in the electronic music world over the last couple years, worked with a ton of DJs and writing for other people and electronic tracks. It’s not completely new for us but it’s not necessarily the focus that we’d have on our own.
We’ve also found ourselves now. In the past, we felt like if you change one little detail, people won’t know it’s you. Our voices are identifiable now in a way that it could still be a Tegan and Sara polka record and be awesome.
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You’ve worked with Tiesto a lot in the past and he’s remixed your tracks. Do you have a special working relationship with him?
He’s great, he remixed “Back in Your Head” and we both ended up playing Bonnaroo and guesting during his set, which was a total thrill and really fun. We ended up writing quite a bit with him and the song “Feel it in My Bones” was a true songwriting collaboration with him. All that happened just from him doing a remix.
I love working with him, he’ll send us actual electronic tracks and Tegan and I write the lyrics. It’s really easy that we’re not working as a traditional band but it’s all over the Internet. He sends us tracks and we send them back and if he likes it, great, but if not, no harm done.
Since then, we’ve done that with quite a few artists actually, like Morgan Page and I did some writing with Theophilus London. I like stuff that I can do at home or wander around and get the head space without the pressure of the studio and producers.
Does it ever get to be too much to be away from home or is it better because you’re with your sister?
We’ve definitely gotten used to the lifestyle and have adjusted our schedules. When you’ve been doing it for 15 years, you sort of know what works and what doesn’t. Our tour manager’s been with us for 10 years and our guitar player for eight years so it’s not just Tegan; I feel like that’s sort of a family. You have so many cool experiences that in a lot of ways it justifies the time you miss at home.
Also, for example, I’ve spent the majority of the last two years in one place writing and hanging out so that’s the trade-off. You get a lot of focused time at home to write and see friends and family and sometimes you’re away for a while.
You’ve taken on other projects like videos and unique merchandise. Where do those ideas come from?
There’s a lot of downtime when we’re touring and when we’re writing so we’re sort of goofy. We always just start kicking around ideas we think would be fun.
In 2007, we were in Portland for a couple of months and we had rented this house and we thought it would be really funny to build a set in the basement. Instead of like MTV, talking to the camera, documentary style we thought it would be fun to start calling people. Every night when we’d get out of the studio we’d go sit downstairs in the set—this contraption called the forest phone—and we’d call people, tell them about our day and talk about the record.
It’s more like trying to take ideas that other people use and make them stand out a little more. Do it less traditionally. We just like to have fun and it’s a way for us to kill time.
What’s your favorite thing about playing in and visiting San Francisco?
San Francisco has always been one of our favorite places. I love playing in California a lot—audiences are super enthusiastic and we’ve always had a strong fan base. When we first left Canada and were touring all the time, Los Angeles and New York were okay but I was like “San Francisco, THAT’S cool.” I still really love it, the crowds, the coffee.
What are you guys listening to on your own these days?
Well because we’re just finishing up our own record and in eigh-hour rehersals for the set we’ll be playing on tour, my favorite thing right now is silence. I come home and sit very quietly.
I was excited about Frank Ocean’s record and the How to Dress Well record that just came out. I’m very aware of what’s happening and listen to stuff all the time but I just need silence right now.
Tegan and Sara perform this Saturday, September 29 at the Harmony by the Bay Festival in Mountain View.