Tegan and Sara 'So Jealous' album

With Tegan and Sara you can never really be sure what is going to come out of their mouths.

Their first word as babies was a four letter one according to family legend, and since then the only thing that’s changed is that now people pay to hear what they have to say. If you want to hear their legendary onstage stories along with some new four-letter words, buy a ticket to their next live show. If you simply want to hear the power, precision, and originality of their lyrical and musical vision, then throw on their brand new album – So Jealous (Vapor/Sanctuary).

Produced by Tegan and Sara along with John Collins, David Carswell and Howard Redekopp (The New Pornographers), So Jealous was recorded in Vancouver, Canada. The band is happy to report that no one cried during the recording process, except of course Sara (identity crisis on the second day of mixing) and Tegan (she cries whenever Sara starts crying). And with only a few unforeseen post-recording bumps – the record company submitted a last minute request for them to sing about “something other than love” for once – Tegan and Sara are now set to release their fourth studio album on September 14, 2004.

In preparing material for the new album, Tegan and Sara began writing and recording demos in their respective bedrooms during the fall of 2003. Hoping to transfer as much of their self-styled home-recording sound as possible to the new album, these demos would become the official blueprint for the production of the studio album. With 26 new songs written, Tegan and Sara recruited drummer Rob Chursinoff and bassist Chris Carlson for album rehearsals at Vancouver's legendary Renegade Studios. In an unorthodox move designed to stay true to the vision of the demos, Rob was forced to rehearse his drum parts alone to the sound of what became known as “the bedroom demos.” The resulting mental duress for Rob was reminiscent of the Karate Kid movies, and he was quoted as saying it was a “stupid” technique and that he had never had to try such a thing in all his years of “legitimate” rocking.

So after a month of stick throwing, yelling, and screaming (mostly by Rob, age 32), the band anxiously headed into Mushroom Studios to track the album’s foundation: drums and bass. They were quickly thrilled (translation: relieved) to discover that their strict rehearsal regimen of dynamics exercises, Greek food, magazine reading, and drumming to bedroom demo CDs had produced exciting musical results. Tegan and Sara followed with three weeks of guitar overdubs, vocals, organ, and Casio keyboards, and Matt Sharp (ex-Weezer, The Rentals) flew in to make a sky-fisting guest appearance on Moog and strings. The end result is a record that everyone seems to think is their best yet, in a “high-fi/low-fi kind of way.”

After mixing and mastering put the final touches on the CD, Sara returned home to resume a life of bicycle riding and red onion eating, leaving Tegan to host Scrabble parties in Vancouver. Known for their onstage banter, Tegan and Sara are in fact now trying to isolate themselves on opposite sides of Canada to avoid fighting; Tegan lives in Vancouver, BC and Sara resides in Montreal, Quebec.

Tegan and Sara were born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Tegan’s childhood dreams included being a clown, working as a veterinarian with polar bears in the Arctic and being a rock star, of course. Sara wanted to be a lawyer and live in Boston strangely enough. Tegan is impossibly stubborn, while Sara is good-natured and loveable. They have toured with many bands and performers over the course of their career, including Hot Hot Heat, Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainwright, Neil Young, and Ben Folds. Their previous catalogue includes If It Was You (2002) and This Business of Art (2000).

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Tegan and Sara - So Jealous