Tegan and Sara: Practicing Sainthood

Canadian indie rockers Tegan and Sara have steadily attracted a growing audience for over a decade now. The climb to their present success was not achieved overnight. It has been a slow unwavering ascension, and with the release of their sixth album, Sainthood, the twins are well on their way to ensuring an even more expansive fan base.

I caught up with Sara at her hotel room in Vancouver last month to talk about her new album. Although she stands at only 5'3", her captivating presence radiated throughout the entire room – she was eager and genuinely excited to be promoting her latest treasure.

Inspired by the Leonard Cohen track "Came So Far For Beauty," Sainthood is an album that addresses the themes of love and relationships, rather than religious topics the word “sainthood” seems to imply. Each track erupts with a sense of devotion and emotional longing. “I specifically really love the idea that to be saintly or to behave like a saint isn’t necessarily just for saints,” Sara explains. “It’s something maybe we all do in our own lives. You know, trying to be kind and honest and certainly in relationships, this idea of being monogamous or very devoted just to one individual. And I really loved the idea that you would have to practice at that, that it wouldn’t come naturally. Like the idea that human beings make mistakes and are not perfect.”

For Tegan and Sara, Sainthood also merged their different relationship perspectives together under one musical umbrella. “Tegan was pursuing someone and then was in a relationship,” says Sara. “We were just writing from all these different places. I was single and I was thinking a lot about my parent’s divorce when I was a little kid and thinking about the choices you make when you divorce or you have a kid and the commitments and sacrifices you make... those types of things. So I feel like Sainthood was really able to tie all of that together.”

Despite being in two very different relationship places, Tegan and Sara decided to join lyrical forces this time around – a rare occurrence for the twins. “I mean it’s been so many years I just thought it would be fun – sh**s and giggles!” Sara laughs. And although working with your sibling does present some challenges, Tegan and Sara are able to make it happen. “I think we generally work in harmony. Even when we fight, I feel like we want to end up at the same place,” she says. “We only ever verbally abuse each other behind closed doors.”

Sara assures fans that the future of the twins’ music career will certainly include a follow-up to Sainthood. “I’m definitely committed to one more album. I am starting to get like, ‘OK, this is our sixth record... we are definitely going to do one more, that’s like seven albums... I feel like we could take a break.’ I don’t think we’ll ever stop making music as Tegan and Sara or stop touring and that sort of thing, but we may start to take a different approach to albums and cycles. I’ll be in my mid-30s by the time this whole shindig wraps up. I’ll probably want to have a normal life for a while. So I think my short-term goal is to continue to work with Tegan and Sara and my long-term goal is probably to be a normal adult.”

Whether or not Sara Quin will ever fall under the category of “normal adult,” there is no doubt that the release of Sainthood will have a positive impact for Tegan and Sara and their music career.