Tegan and Sara: Keeping it Simple & Getting Weird

BY PAMELA LITTKY, SADIE DUPUIS

Tegan and Sara Quin released their first record, Under Feet Like Ours, in 1999, and in the decades that followed they've since touched on every pop sub-genre that excites them – punk, folk, EDM; sometimes all at once. The twin sisters started writing songs on their guitars as teenagers, but they've been recording themselves and their surroundings for far longer; first as toddlers with a Fisher-Price cassette recorder. "We'd walk around interviewing ourselves at three or four years old, and we became obsessed with the sounds of our own voices," laughs Sara. This escalated to boombox experimentation, as well as audio bootlegging of their then-favorite comedies, Full House and Home Improvement. "We'd spend a tremendous amount of time positioning ourselves in front of the TV. We'd use the radio antennae to prop it up so it was perfectly aimed at the speaker. We became obsessed with recording and listening back," Sara says. While the two began working with Digidesign's Pro Tools in 1999, they've since tried their hands at just about every DAW on the market. This has served production for their own Juno-, Polaris-, and Grammy-nominated albums, as well as their collaborations and co-writes with wide-reaching artists including David Guetta, Tiësto, and Against Me. Despite their professional accomplishments, both Quins joke that they're shy about showing off their jobs. "We're like closeted musicians," deadpans Tegan. "We have gold records and plaques, and guitars and gear – and none of it is displayed in my apartment in Vancouver." Crybaby, the Canadian duo's tenth album (and first for Mom + Pop Music), is a co-production with John Congleton [Tape Op #81]. Its sonic direction was sparked by Sara's experimentation in a sample-based recording app, Keezy Classic. In an effort to reconnect with the pleasures of performance, Tegan and Sara tried out a few new tricks on Crybaby – including rearranging one another's material, a change from their usual process. Favored technology and instruments have fluctuated over time for the duo, but some things remain static, like their playful dedication to uncovering new sounds. "When I think back on when we were recording ourselves on tape decks, there were so many different versions of the songs we wrote in high school," Sara tells me. "We'd see the evolution of how the song had changed. Being able to listen back became part of the method we'd use to write music." Last August, Tegan and Sara had a lot on their plates. Of course, there was prep work for Crybaby's upcoming launch, like working with their musical director to get songs tour-ready. There was a literal cry baby to contend with too: the arrival of Sara's first child, who she'd recently shared news of publicly. Additionally, the Quins recently released a trailer for High School, the TV adaptation of their bestselling memoir, on which they executive produced. And Junior High, that memoir's prequel in graphic novel form, was formally announced during this time as well. Whew! Despite their hectic schedules, both found time to sit down with me over Zoom to talk songwriting, gear, and their work toward gender parity in recorded music.