Tegan and Sara Key In On Both Sides Of the Romantic Coin For "Heartthrob"

Agreeable is a word which can describe a warm bubble bath, a cone of vanilla ice cream or a glass of Chardonnay. Canadian sister act Tegan and Sara embody this adjective throughout "Heartthrob", their seventh studio album. Whether playing up the magical properties of love as they do on "Love They Say" or kicking a defective romance to the curb with "Goodbye, Goodbye" the two women forge an alluring centerpiece for the drama. You'll be sensing visions of Human League's "Don't You Want Me?" or a Flock of Seagulls "I Ran" upon crossing this threshold chock full of the ultra sterile keyboards many an early '80s act used as bread and butter conveyor of ominous "all's not well in Kansas" love complications. "Love They Say" exudes tons of good intention. Tegan and Sara rattle off a what's what of description others have called upon to explain what love is. Love heals. Love is blind. Love is magic personified. These keys pull off the feat of drawing us in instead of keeping us at an aloof distance. "I Was a Fool" is a forceful cold light of musing broaching the subject of why a woman stays with an iffy man so long. The rhythms of drum and keys are bracing. The tempo chews on each nanosecond of implied anguish."Shock To Your System", from the word go, should take credit for creating the largest '80s keyboard flashback, complete with towering frizzy hair. Loneliness is the center stage topic here. It's probably for the best that the keyboards assembled here descend with a gut punch thump. "Goodbye Goodbye" is deceptively chipper for a song about declaring "Good riddance to rank romantic rubbish". Girl power endures. Tegan and Sara can shape shift from dizzy heights to heartbreaking lows in the blink of an eye. Following "So They Say" on the track list is "Now I'm All Messed Up", a real gut wrenching concoction in a spirit that's polar opposite to "So They Say". From ebullient praise for love we get a worrisome question like "Whose life are you making worthwhile?" The keyboards take more of a menacing approach. If I sound somewhat slanted towards the positive in summing up Tegan and Sara's talent, forgive me. In addition to being sisters they're also Canadian. Having visited their homeland numerous times I've found little if anything to dislike. Tegan and Sara prove themselves capable of holding your ear's attention much like a hanging mobile captures an infant's. Special credit goes to both Joey Waronker and Victor Indrizzo, the beat keepers presiding over Heartthrob". They contribute physical strength to Tegan and Sara's emphatic declaration of both the falling in and out of love. Since "Love They Say" in my opinion, is one of the top three best tracks on "Heartthrob" it bears noting that bassist Chris Carter plays a huge role in amplifying the splendid autumn color the song conveys. "Heartthrob" is agreeable. Whether pro-romance or pro-mental house cleaning the sisters aren't a bad duo to share stories with.