Tegan and Sara
Get Along
Warner Bros. Records
Tegan and Sara’s new album “Get Along” is a batch of live recordings. They come from small concerts the duo gave to their family and friends, and you can hear a familiarity and quietness in the performances.
The songs span the last five of Tegan and Sara’s six previous albums. Over the years, the music has mellowed, but “Get Along” is the pair’s slowest, softest collection.
There is no new material, but listeners do get altered arrangements and fresh feelings. The sisters are sweeter and vulnerable – less raw.
They sound both more approachable and more resigned than in the songs’ original studio recordings. You’d be comfortable talking to the singers at a bar, but they wouldn’t be the same tortured souls who go down fighting when their relationships sour.
That doesn’t mean Tegan and Sara aren’t interesting on this album, or that the twins won’t still glockenspiel their way into listeners’ hearts.
But where the characteristic percussion was bouncy in the original version of “Back In Your Head,” the keys are quieter against this recording’s laid-back singing. Other songs feature atmospheric electronica that functions similarly.
“I Hear Noises” packed more punch in its faster, angrier studio version, but “Not With You” turns out to be powerful when it’s slowed down. “Alligator,” detached and upbeat in the original, is almost sultry here.
Revised harmonies make the twins feel especially close on “Divided” and “Call It Off.” The latter song and “Back In Your Head” feature heartbreaking call and response sequences.
The twins also demonstrate an intimacy with their material. Singers can play with their work at any point in their careers, but the listener can almost picture Tegan and Sara sitting back and musing that after ten years, yes, they can tweak that one line’s melody.
No matter how the sisters sing, their work remains beautiful and their delivery is evocative and articulate in its own slurred way.
However, “Get Along” disappoints as a concert album. Tegan and Sara’s shows are known for the duo’s sarcastic yet generous banter as much as for their music. Listeners will hear none of that here.
The only vestiges of the performances are end-of-track-applause, an occasional “thank you,” and a few offhand comments – perhaps nods to band members – that make little sense to the listener. Longtime fans would have been greatly rewarded to hear the sisters interact more with each other and with the audience.
Those looking for backstage tidbits, however, can presumably find them in the three concert and tour films that come with the CD.
You can stream the album on Paste Magazine’s website.
The “Get Along” trailer for the films can be found on YouTube.