Tegan and Sara go pop

“I always find the conversation around what is ‘produced’ and what isn’t to be really silly because from the first moment I sit down and start writing a song, Tegan is giving me feedback, I might play it for my girlfriend and she might give me some feedback – when does producing begin and end? For me a producer is just another voice in a conversation.”

Sara Quin, one (identical) half of Canadian indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara, is discussing the press surrounding their seventh studio albumHearthrob, which was released into the water-stream last week. A notable departure from their more indie-leaning back catalogue, the record features production sheen courtesy of Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Kylie Minogue), and a notable synth-pop sound. Not surprisingly, the words ‘produced’ and ‘pop’ comes up a lot when describing the album, despite the fact that their past three albums: 2004’s So Jealous, 2007’s The Con and 2009’s Sainthood were immaculately-produced slices of pop, brimming with clever melodies and each boasting a bright, cleanly produced sound.

“I don’t feel that this record is any more produced than the ones we made before it. It’s just that our goal on this one is to make something that doesn’t sound like what came before it. Yes, it is a departure and it definitely is something different, but how we made it wasn’t any different. It’s equally creative working with someone like Greg Kurstin as it is working with Chris Walla. Ultimately, we’re in a room talking about music, talking about parts and talking about progressions.”

The aforementioned Walla produced both The Con and Sainthood, and it’s the shift from Walla’s evergreen indie credibility (courtesy of his long tenure as guitarist and producer of Death Cab for Cutie, as well as his work with a string of acts such as The Decemberists, Nada Surf and Hot Hot Heat) to Greg Kurstin–who counts records from Pink and Kelly Clarkson among his past works– that has caused the most furor among fans and commentators.

“Our idea with picking somebody like Greg was [we were] looking for somebody who would help us take what we thought were already fairly accomplished, poppy songs and really take them to the next level,” Quin explains. “We’ve never made a pop record per se, so we knew there were going to be ideas and suggestions that would not necessarily be the kind of things we would do inherently, or naturally.

“He is so poppy in the sense that he has worked with a lot of pop stars, like Kylie Minogue or Lily Allen, but when we first started working with him, he had just finished doing The Shins record and he’s in [indie pop duo] The Bird and The Bee, so he does have a left-of- centre indie kind of sensibility, and he is also really wicked at making great pop music. It wasn’t about making the music less emotional or less dynamic; if anything the goal was to focus more on that.”

The main motif that runs through the conversation is that the production serves the songwriting, not the other way around. Strip away the synths and sheen and you’ll find very little has changed in the Tegan and Sara camp. “In a lot of ways I am becoming better at being my own band,” she states, after explaining how most of the rhythms, bass-lines and counter-melodies are written during the initial songwriting process, “and at the same time I am getting better at having a collaborative relationship with Tegan, and with producers, and being open to their suggestions in order to help the songs get to the next level.

“I think when it comes to the studio, me and Tegan really seem to have a vibe and an unspoken truth, I guess. I don’t think we ever fight over what should be the end goal. We definitely have conflict and there’s complexities to our relationship in other areas. But I think with the music part,” she laughs, “we actually get along really well.”