Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob

Until recently Tegan and Sara just screamed 'generic gay guy favourite'. Okay, so maybe they still do, but I don't know, I take some small victory in overcoming my own prejudices... it's all the 21st century 20-something has any more. So whilst I was wilfully ignoring the Calgary twins they managed to push six albums prior to this - although maybe their relative lack of UK success adds a smidgen of reason - and now, thanks to my unerring attention given to Popjustice and Pitchfork (and this is one of those rare, rare occasions where something is picked up by both), here we are.

Why you would care whatever a newcomer to the band thinks of their seventh album is ultimately down to you, so away with your snooty comments. Enough brushing aside of imaginary criticism, though. The assimilation of Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Ke$ha, P!nk producer) into Heartthrob should immediately indicate a poppier inclination than their usual self-produced, occasional member of AFI sound. That worked for the likes of Paramore, the All-American Rejects and Avril Lavigne, but at the expense of some serious credibility. Tegan and Sara never really quite commanded the same sorts of fan demographics, did they?

We begin with 'Closer', the Kurstin-co-penned electropop smasher that should do for the duo what Paris is Burning did for Ladyhawke (ie. make them stratospheric hits - albeit for a fleetingly brief period of time). The verses are delicately laid with Cyndi Lauper-sounding synths and cute, bouncy beeps before aforementioned stomping chorus. It's thankfully not a one-off occasion: 'Goodbye, Goodbye' is similarly arranged in theatrics ("you never really loved me!") and 'I Was a Fool' might as well just be packaged in cassette and come with legwarmers it's so nostalgic. The latter, though, suffers from the predicament of falling into background-listening territory. It's one the sisters rarely settle for, though, and 'I'm Not Your Hero' and its no-holds-barred, straightforward pop writing is, whilst likely to alienate some fans, the most direct emotional delivery pop music can afford. "It's so hard to know I'm not what they want", they pout, over an admittedly generic progression.

Fellow compatriots Sultan and Ned Shepard join in the fun on 'Drove Me Wild', a sort-of Robyn derivative slice of angsty, bittersweet reverie. Even fun.'s guitarist Jack Antonoff finds his way in on 'How Come You Don't Want Me', a shrill, high-pitched singalong chorus of obvious lyrics (not necessarily always a bad thing, but certainly not a good one), but most of the time they manage just fine by themselves. In 'I Couldn't Be Your Friend' they kiss off an ex with gut-wrenching bluntness and an uncompromising, defiant stance.

It's with some surprise that the solitary stumble they take on Heartthrobs is the nauseatingly Morissette-sounding 'Love They Say', a track so mismatched and jarring with the other nine that you can't help but skip it. They mercifully recover on 'Now I'm All Messed Up' but again the lyrics are so frighteningly akin to teenage poetry that you kind-of question what all the hype and fuss about the previous seven albums was about. "You're only meant to cry once in a while", they confess on 'Shock to Your System' - not the world's most convincing titular lyrical hook - at least serving up the melodrama ("what you are is lonely") with some conviction and honesty, but too often you're presented with realisations that make you hesitate to think "didn't you realise that years ago?" Maybe that's the album's appeal; a youthfulness and a fresh innocence when it comes to love. It works for Robyn and she's the same age as them, so why not?

The album'll most likely be overlooked by die hard fans in years to come and that's fine, because this is probably a record for others - and if stretching your legs whilst maintaining obvious quality songwriting and piecemealing is going to piss off some people then that's fine. They need to lighten up. Heartthrob is an album of incredible repeat-play potential and a handful of excellent moments. It just lacks something that bonds it all together.

Rating: 7.5/10
Highlights: Closer; I'm Not Your Hero; How Come You Don't Want Me; Goodbye, Goodbye; Drove Me Wild
Avoid: Love They Say

Artwork Watch: Someone did an Art GCSE.
Up next: The Joy Formidable