They're going to be here at The Annex Dec. 5. They're queer twin sisters. Get used to rocking.
Tegan and Sara Quin, 24-year-old Calgary natives who somewhat resemble Joan Jett, recently finished a tour of the U.S. opening for Melissa Ferrick, a big-name singer-songwriter who is also a lesbian.
The sisters moved from Alberta to Vancouver before they turned 20
\We were just playin' music and hanging out,"" Sara said. ""When we were teenagers we started playing guitar. We took piano lessons as kids. When we were 18 we made our first record. We got a record deal when we were 19.""
The decision to, well, become rock stars wasn't conscious. ""I don't remember thinking, Oh, this is what we're going to do. All my life I imagined myself going to university.""
In addition to going on the road with Ferrick, Tegan and Sara have opened for Rufus Wainwright and Neil Young.
Their own American tour, promoting their latest album So Jealous, began in Philadelphia Nov. 27 with Boston-area musician Rachael Cantu as the opening act.
Music critics are fond of saying So Jealous is Tegan and Sara's poppiest record yet.
Sara, the younger sister by eight minutes, said she actually considers the new album the band's most natural album to date.
""The folk thing has been weird for us. If you're female and play acoustic you're folk,"" she said, referring to the instrumentation on the previous albums, which caused them to be categorized with folk artists like the Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco. ""Is folk a swear word? Is it a negative thing?""
She mentioned musical influences like the Talking Heads and Violent Femmes, males who play acoustic instruments, yet are never categorized as folkies. Sara continued, explaining that when she and her sister Tegan are making music they ""don't think what it's going to be labeled as. You're making what comes out of you. This is the most natural thing that's come out of us.""
Sara noted that, unlike previous albums, on which the producer had a very strong vision of what their record should sound like, ""Tegan and I produced 90 percent of it. [So Jealous] is the most natural-sounding [album we've done] to me.""
Album highlights include the beachy, breezy song ""I Bet It Stung,"" ""We Didn't Do It"" and ""Walking With A Ghost"" that will remind people old enough to feel nostalgic for 1997 of the Foo Fighters hit ""Everlong,""
""We write a lot about personal relationships, for sure,"" Sara said. The most notable, perhaps, is the album's single ""Walking With A Ghost.""
Sara pointed out the record's vibe or motif is repetition. That quality, she explained, is brought to bear on ""Walking With A Ghost"" to emphasize the feeling of ""missing somebody and feeling that way every single day. On a good night I can capture that emotion again.""
""When we started our writing process we had two months to do the record,"" Sara said. ""We'd done a lot of pre-production. Vocals are big for us, too. We like to find a balance, a good marriage between music and vocals. We include different layers to keep people interested, to give it some texture.""
So Jealous does, in fact, feature the most satisfyingly bratty-sounding vocals since Veruca Salt's heyday. At other times, they resemble the splintery style of fellow Canadian Nelly Furtado.
Besides vocals, Tegan and Sara handled guitars and some keys. Notably, former Weezer member Matt Sharp played Moog and keyboard on songs like ""I Know I Know I Know"" and the head-nodding ""Walking With A Ghost.""
Sara doesn't consider her band part of any scene. ""Maybe that's why we have a connection with our core audience,"" she said. ""They're our community.\
