Tegan & Sara Fall Flat But Have Room to Grow
Written: Jul 05 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: One great track, a few ok ones.
Cons: Everything else falls flat.
The Bottom Line: See Review.
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| JennJoy's Full Review: If It Was You by Tegan and Sara |
This review is part of the Three-Legged Writeoff, where members pair up to offer up as many reviews as they can handle on the 5th and 6th of July. Check out my partner in crime (er, music), teamfreak16's contributions or find the complete list of participants here: http://home.earthlink.net/~epskids.
I had really high hopes for Tegan & Sara and I honestly wanted to like If It Was You, their sophomore album. Talking to other fans of artists you like is generally a decent way of discovering some new music and since I heard a bunch of Ani DiFranco fans raving about twin sister group Tegan & Sara I figured I’d check them out. I fully expected to find at least some fairly enjoyable music that fell somewhere remotely in the vein of folkster DiFranco – but what I ended up with on If It Was You was not only unexpected, it wasn’t even worthwhile.
The one really good thing I can say about this Canadian duo is they are young (23 years old) and still have plenty of time to find themselves musically. Having two albums under their belts at this point is really quite an accomplishment, they do write their own material and they clearly have a lot of people supporting their efforts – they were signed on Neil Young’s Vapor Records and even did a bunch of dates on the Lilith Fair tour. Despite my feelings about If It Was You, these achievements have to worth something, right?
My biggest problem with this album is twofold. First, there doesn’t seem to have much of a direction. Tegan & Sara dabble in the realms of acoustic folk, pop, and even some punkier moments but they don’t manage to merge the styles they are attempting in any satisfying way. Most of the songs end up sounding a bit muddled and confused as though these girls haven’t quite found their songwriting chops yet – or at least haven’t honed them. My second beef is with the vocals, which both women provide. Sometimes their voices are so tinny and grating it’s hard to get past. For instance, on “And Darling” Tegan & Sara’s vocals sound childish and forced, a combination which makes me hit the skip button immediately. The same goes for other tracks like “Monday Monday Monday” and “You Went Away” – I just get the sense that they are trying to hard to give off this pseudo-indie hipster vibe and it doesn’t work.
There are a few worthwhile moments on If It Was You that gave me some hope for the future of Tegan & Sara. “City Girl” is a jangly little gem that I could easily see getting a spot on the radio between the likes of Alanis Morrisette and Joan Osbourne. “I Hear Noises” and “Terrible Storm” are nice pop-type numbers, but the shining point here is “Time Running” – where the girls focus a bit more on their punk-rock roots and provide us with a chunky, but subdued rocker that reminds me of an updated Go-Gos.
While there are a few tracks on If It Was You that I do enjoy, I’m not salivating over them and won’t be likely to come back to this disc over and over again. For that reason, I can’t give this album anymore than two stars. Still, I do have respect for musicians like Tegan & Sara who are still young and are at least attempting to be true to themselves and not go the route of all of the radio’s pop junk. I’m fairly confident that they’ve got a good base with which to work from and would love to see them focus on one style of music at least until they find their niche. If you totally love the Lilith Fair type of music you may enjoy If It Was You more than I, but I’ll be waiting until these two get a bit older before giving their music another try.
Track List:
1. Time Running
2. You Went Away
3. Monday Monday Monday
4. City Girl
5. Not Tonight
6. Underwater
7. I Hear Noises
8. Living Room
9. Terrible Storm
10. And Darling
11. Want to Be Bad
12. Don’t Confess (This Thing That Breaks My Heart)
Recommended:
No
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JennJoy
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