Tegan and Sara
Sainthood
Release Date: Oct 27, 2009
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative
Record label: Sire
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Album Review: Sainthood by Tegan and Sara
Very Good, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
Although Sainthood may disappoint some long-time listeners, it does have the potential to make the duo a lot of new fans. The twin sisters have kept few remaining traces of their folky beginnings, replacing acoustic guitars with chunky fuzzed-out pop-punk power chords and showing an increasing interest in electronic embellishments. [rssbreak] Already, some fans are calling this effort too pop, which to more receptive ears means "catchy as fuck." This is the most radio-friendly they've ever sounded, and as a result there's less of that sense of fragile intimacy.
Based on rating 7.8/10
Canadian pop duo stays scrappy despite polished, mature sound “I miss the days when Tegan & Sara were little Ani DiFrancos in training,” said a poster on Prefix’s website. That person is going to hate Sainthood, which is too bad—some of their best work is here. The Quin twins are now pushing 30, and they’re no longer flirting with mainstream pop sounds; they’re reveling in them.
Based on rating 7.3/10
Carefully selected case studies could convince you anyone can be a star with a well-timed leak, blog post, or P2P push, but there are still few substitutes for good ol' fashioned hard work. Case in point: Tegan and Sara, who have worked their way up from cult status to wider prominence through a steady regimen of touring and a gradual musical evolution and maturation that's made it harder to ignore their increasingly impressive achievements. Those achievements peaked to date with 2007's The Con, but that shouldn't negate the merits of the Canadian Quin sisters' somewhat likeminded follow-up, Sainthood.
Based on rating 7/10
Tegan and Sara's fifth album, The Con, found them expanding their sound to incorporate more texture and space in their approach. With the help of producer Chris Walla, they built on what they had done before to make something more complex and adult-sounding. Their sixth album, Sainthood, retains Walla as producer but discards much of the restraint and atmosphere of The Con in favor of a punchier, more direct feel that's more in line with the duo's best album, So Jealous.
Based on rating 6/10
‘Powerful’ is the working term for Tegan and Sara’s sixth studio album. Approximately two years after the release of popularly acclaimed The Con, the sisters come back with a fresh bid. And surprising as it may be, the twins actually wrote together on Sainthood, for the first time in over a decade of musical releases. “Arrow” provides a propelling start to the album, making the sisters’ new, integrated energy instantly apparent.
Based on rating 6/10
Tegan and Sara Quin aren’t nearly arch enough to have dubbed their sixth album Sainthood by way of comment on the seemingly indestructible devotion they inspire. Nonetheless, take a couple of irony lessons and they’d be well within their rights to do so. If the sisters are far from critics’ darlings, then their latterday plunge into quiescent AOR waters has seen their grassroots fanbase swell and solidify to proportions that sorely stretch the definition 'cult act'.
'Sainthood'
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