The lyrics in particular become repetitive, as the middle of the album contains songs like “I’m Not Your Hero,” “How Come You Don’t Want Me” and “I Couldn’t Be Your Friend.” As you might expect with titles like those, the album is full of standard variations on the romantic drama as pop song story. Almost every song is between three and four minutes long, and they all adhere to the same basic structure. Unfortunately, the rest of the album never quite reaches the heights of “Closer,” a fact that reveals one of the weaknesses of this particular sound: there isn’t very much variety here. The lyrics are similarly direct, but they are in keeping with the song’s energetic bounce, and the sisters deliver the lines in their own distinct style, which helps to differentiate the song from its more mainstream pop counterparts. It isn’t a complex song, but it is a tightly built, satisfying piece of pop music. It starts with a catchy hook, following it up with another, and another, repeating that pattern. ![]() With its big chorus and dance beat, the song would not feel out of place on a top 40 radio station. The album begins with standout track “Closer,” which is something of a mission statement for the album. These elements of continuity provide a link to the band’s previous music, but as a whole Heartthrob is a major change for the band. Additionally, their recent albums have been using fuller instrumentation, particularly 2009’s Sainthood, which drew on some of the electronic influences that Heartthrob embraces entirely. ![]() The band’s lyrics have always been about bare emotions, and that honest style makes sense for this type of pop. Even when their songs only consisted of the two sisters’ voices and an acoustic guitar, they were always structured around catchy choruses, and this new album focuses on stacking as many hooks into each song as the songs can hold, in the same way most big pop songs do today. On first impression, Heartthrob is entirely unlike Tegan and Sara’s typical sound, but on closer examination, the album takes certain cues from the band’s discography and expands upon them for a larger audience. Their seventh full-length release, Heartthrob is firmly within the category of electro-pop, a far cry from the sparse acoustic guitars and haunting harmonies of their early work. All of these factors discourage experimentation from established bands, so it is surprising that indie folk duo Tegan and Sara have chosen to shift their sound drastically on their new album. And if a band attempts to broaden its appeal, accusations of “selling out” will overshadow whatever changes the band makes to the actual music. ![]() It is an unfortunate aspect of the music industry, where bands are encouraged to become complacent once they have reached a certain level of success. The annals of rock history are littered with ill-considered albums by bands trying out a “new sound,” that were inevitably rejected by the fans. Any band that attempts to reinvent itself risks losing sight of what made it popular in the first place.
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