[Herald Interview] Pop duo Tegan and Sara advocate LGBT rights

Though Tegan and Sara Quin of pop duo Tegan and Sara, identical twins and both openly gay, are prominent advocates for the LGBT movement, they’re also aware that “people in other countries don’t always understand.”

“We try to be very sensitive to social and religious norms in other countries,” Tegan said at an interview before their first Korean performance at the Jisan Valley Rock Music & Arts Festival on July 22.

The sisters have been vocal proponents of LGBT issues for the length of their music career, which kicked off in 1999 with their debut album “Under Feet Like Ours.” In recent years they’ve participated in creative initiatives, teaming up with ice-cream trucks and T-shirt brands to promote marriage equality in Canada, their home.

Internationally, however, the twins take on a more cautious, but no less effective, approach, using their “niceness” to exude a positive image for the gay community, they said.

“We just hope that wherever we go, our music speaks for itself, and people will see that (gay people) are not doing any harm,” said Sara.

“Sometimes, we’ve met people who’ve never even known a gay person before, and I think ‘What! That’s so crazy,’” she added. “It’s helpful because I think we’re nice, and people like us, so people are like, ‘Oh, so it’s not bad to be gay.’ And it’s not. It’s great.” 

Tegan and Sara, 35, have been writing songs together since the age of 15. They have slowly transitioned from the folksy indie-rock of their earlier albums to the current stylishly-produced, more pop-oriented sounds.

The shift was most marked on the duo’s 2013 album “Heartthrob,” both a commercial and critical success, with critics calling it a “brilliant,” “nearly perfect” pop album. The group’s most recent album “Love You to Death,” released June 3, takes a still deeper plunge into the realm of pop.

“For us, it still sort of has the identity and intelligence of what we originally started from,” said Sara. “I just don’t feel as interested in the guitar (anymore),” she added. “Lots of keyboards, bells and whistles I like to call them. Lots of nuances and ideas,” she said about the new album.

Tracks like “Boyfriend” and “BWU,” which ooze the ‘80s disco feel, talk openly about romance, while songs like “White Knuckles” and “100x” discuss, for the first time in their music, the tumultuous ups and downs the twins have experienced with each other.

Asked about their current relationship, Sara said, “Of course we’re sisters first. It’s more recently that we feel pride calling each other business partners.”

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)