To understand how fully shedding past qualifiers and “indie” infusions in favor of straight-up synth ‘n’ hook heavy pop on 2013’s Heartthrob shifted the paradigm for Tegan And Sara, simply google the twin sisters’ manic/grandiose performance of their Oscar-nominated, Mark Mothersbaugh-penned LEGO Movie soundtrack offering “Everything Is Awesome” at the 2015 Academy Awards.
Fist-pumping among breakdancing construction workers, raucous cartoon cowboys, a giant “awesome possum” and various glitterati while shouting “Everything is awesome/Everything is cool when you’re part of the team” is a long goddamn way from This Business Of Art—and this, apparently, is as Tegan And Sara prefer it. Love You To Death is a decidedly don’t-rock-the-boat effort that revisits the Heartthrob experiment as formula. The Quins bring pathos and depth to sleek Katy Perry/Lady Gaga-esque electropop, true, but reaching for the golden ring too often dilutes the inventiveness and creative abandon that once made a new T&S record such an exhilarating proposition.
—Shawn Macomber
