SXSW Review: Tegan and Sara, March 14, Austin Music Hall

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SXSW Review: Tegan and Sara, March 14, Austin Music Hall

Posted on

16 Mar 2013

by

Ricky

It’s hard to believe that Tegan and Sara have been around for over a decade already. When I first heard about them back in the day, all I had heard was that they were these lesbian identical twin folk act with stylish haircuts. Fast forward to today, and Tegan and Sara are now full blown pop stars with a bucket full of hits. They also still have really stylish haircuts.

Their latest album Heartthrob is their most polished and pop album to date (a far cry from their first efforts), but you can’t argue with the results – it is on pace to be their most popular album yet. With their popularity rising exponentially, Tegan and Sara were one of the signature bands that was featured around this time in Austin. I was lucky enough to see them play on Thursday. It was their sixth and final show at SXSW.

Playing a set with a projections backdrop, Tegan and Sara played for about an hour, with hits new and old. I was really impressed with both girl’s voices – they just sounded really good and really belted it out. This was after playing six shows in two days. I can’t imagine how great their vocals sound when they have adequate rest. It was impressive. They also seemed like really nice people, based on their stage banter. I guess that’s the west coast nature. Tegan would say “Gee, Thanks guys!” after every few songs in a very high pitch tone, it was cute.

The only thing I can conclude when listening to their material is that it does seem that Tegan and Sara discovered 80s music with their most recent work, as the material off Heartthrob has a kind of 80s era pop style to it. Played live, the new material sounded less produced/polished then what was on album and in turn, sounded excellent. Having really paid attention to their lyrics for the first time, I also concluded that most Tegan and Sara song sounded like an episode of the OC. Take that for what you will.

The most recent single, Closer closed off the set, and it’s a great track that is dance floor worthy, something you might have never thought was possible from these two when you first heard them.

All in all, a truly excellent show.

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