Forget Michelle Branch, forget Vanessa Carlson and for the love of God, forget Avril Lavigne. So much is made of these studio-molded young female musicians that most have forgotten that girl pop can actually be sincere and cute, but still have attitude beyond the dark eyeliner.
Enter Tegan & Sara, Canadian twins who grew up with music, starting at the age of eight when they began formal piano lessons. From there they formed a two-piece punk rock band, which progressed into a tag team of pop-rock infused with charm and enthusiasm. At age fifteen, they entered a music contest in Calgary called Street Warz, won it and garnered enough attention to perform shows with Paula Cole, and Juliana Hatfield, as well as a few shows on the Lilith Fair Music Festival. In 1998, they were signed to Neil Young’s Vapor Records, and from there it seems to be history. Their first album, The Business of Art, was released in 2000, and they then accompanied the Pretenders and Neil Young himself.
Perhaps you’re hesitant. Canadian? Lilith Fair? Paula Cole? Can this actually rock? Images of a blurred naked Alanis Morrisette might come to mind, which should be immediately erased. Tegan & Sara are young; they don’t hate men (not yet, at least) and according to their latest CD cover, they have the best hair around. They worry about not being geeky while obviously only a geek would worry about such things. They’re the girls a girl might have a crush on even if she’s hetero.
While their earlier recordsounds like a cross between Ani Difranco and Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, the latest album, If It Was You, has a sound all its own. Tegan & Sara have significantly different voices, so their harmonies are golden. Tegan’s snarl blends well with Sara’s sweet vocals. Their acoustic guitar strumming would send Joan Baez to her grave, while it might make some of their former punk rock bandmates sit down and smell the lilies. Their tunes are catchy, their choruses rousing and the end product is simply irresistible. Take for instance “Living Room,” off their latest disc: It starts with a banjo intro, kicks in the drums and only gets better from there. Tegan and Sara’s backing band are equally responsible for bridging the girls from their pop/folk roots to full-blown rock and roll. And while they aren’t quite Thin Lizzy, they do begin to redeem Canada for Alanis and Avril.
Tegan and Sara will be playing at the Black Cat on Friday, March 7th. The Black Cat is located at 1811 14th St. N.W.
