Album Review: Tegan And Sara - Heartthrob

Canadian twin-sister act Tegan & Sara want to dance. That's the conclusion after listening to Heartthrob, their seventh album and first after a three-year hiatus. On previous albums The Con and Sainthood, the sisters' music was a nice mix of '80s solemn – music best listened to on an iPod, alone, to reflect and pause over whatever the hell was going on in one's life. But it's been three years since Sainthood and the two have had time to prioritise.

Closer, the lead from Heartthrob, reminds the masses that the women are still here. Closer is as pop friendly a song as you're ever likely to hear – full of big synths with the familiar harmonic vocals about love. It's so pop-tastic it could be Kelly Clarkson or The Veronicas belting out the lyrics.

Goodbye Goodbye and Drove Me Wild are of similar ilk and a bit too formulaic. Now I'm All Messed Up asks 'whose life you're making worthwhile?' before it meanders into an unremarkable pop ballad. I Was A Fool starts well before it follows the same trajectory of verse, chorus, bridge with a minimal build up and a final rousing chorus. 

Heartthrob remains mysterious and as dark as previous offerings, albeit in sporadic doses as the sisters ditched guitar and added extra synths and pop-friendly beats. There's nothing innately wrong with Heartthrob yet the songs are missing the zing; the spark that demands you hit play repeatedly. And because of that, Heartthrob is a largely forgettable piece of pop.