Heartthrob

I had pre-ordered Tegan and Sara's Heartthrob on iTunes a few weeks ago and finally got to download it tonight (it is officially released in-stores tomorrow). I don't normally write about album releases on this blog, but I have been waiting for them to come out with a new album for four years and could not contain my excitement. When they released their first single, "Closer," in September, I was instantly hooked; it was probably their catchiest song to date. Then they released the audio for the song, "I'm Not Your Hero," on YouTube. And I loved that song even more than "Closer." I wondered if the rest of their seventh studio album would be as catchy or fulfilling as those two songs. Now that I've listened to the album in full several times, I can safely say: Heartthrob was worth waiting four years for.

If you are expecting the raw, acoustic Tegan and Sara of yesteryear, be prepared to be surprised. If It Was You, So Jealous, and The Con will always have a place in my heart; they all have an indie-folk appeal that I love, that I grew up with and made many memories to. But Heartthrob comes as a beautiful contrast to their previous works. It embraces electronic and dance pop beats, which comes as no surprise after their collaborations with Morgan Page and Tiësto. While the songs are quintessentially Tegan and Sara both lyrically and instrumentally, they also mixed in infectious synth beats that make you want to get up and dance, which their previous albums didn't do. You can tell they've grown up; they've found different influences and want to make it heard on this album. Change can be good, and this album proves that. I have been following Tegan and Sara for 14 years now; I first heard of them when I saw them as teenagers playing an acoustic set on Jonovision. At the time, I remember thinking, "Oh, they're pretty good. I hope they make it big one day." And now, after the release of their seventh studio album, the die-hard fans from their early days will have to learn to share them, because they're getting all the attention and popularity they deserve now.

My favourite songs on this album: "Goodbye, Goodbye," "I'm Not Your Hero," "Shock To Your System," and "Guilty As Charged" (this song only comes with Deluxe version of Heartthrob). Conclusion: Get this album. It is so, so, so worth it.

Cross Out The Eyes

The first time I listened to this song was in Grade 9. I was 14, and I had picked up my copy of Thursday's Full Collapse, which, I still remember, was selling for a ridiculous price at HMV due to their label's extremely limited distribution at the time. The first time I had heard of Thursday, they were a little, unknown, indie band from a small town in New Jersey, playing shows at the tiniest, shittiest venues across North America. Just starting out. I had heard about this band through my friend, who was older and more mature (and, therefore, way cooler than me). She had burned me their first album, Waiting, the year before — that was the beginning of my relationship with Thursday. But it wasn't until Full Collapse that I fell into a full-blown love affair with them. Thursday was different to a lot of bands that were out at the time, and beautifully so; their music is aggressive, melancholic, loud, and melodic. Before "post-hardcore" or "screamo" was even a genre.

Full Collapse would prove to be the soundtrack to the rest of my "angsty" teenage years and well into my 20's — that album has been with me through three Discmans, three iPods, and two iPhones; hell, through three continents and 15 countries. It is still my favourite album to this day: An album that is not catchy, but is so beautifully written and instrumentally complex that I can never get sick of it. I saw Thursday in concert nearly every year since that album came out, all the way from their days as an opening band at The Opera House, to their headlining days at Vans Warped Tour, to their tenth anniversary concert in honour of Full Collapse last year. I still have the negatives from the two rolls of film I took at their show with my shitty Pentax camera from nine years ago. So when I read the announcement that they were going to stop making music, my heart broke. I didn't realize how fully invested I was in this relationship until that moment.

So, consider this my ode to Thursday. The band who inspired so much of my artwork, from illustrations and photography in high school to full-blown graphic designs and web layouts I created when I owned a domain. The band whose lyrics inspired the dove tattoo I have on my forearm. The band whose song is the name of this blog. I thank them, their music, their lyrics, and their creativity for the past 14 years for inspiring me in ways I could never imagine.