A friend of mine once described Tegan and Sara as a couple of really angsty lesbians…with beautiful voices. That always sounded about right to me, most of their catalogue is focused around loves gained, loves lost, loves enjoyed, loves cherished. Between the sound and the topic I tend to enjoy them with a sentimental bliss. Alongside their focus on love though, they occasionally write pieces about…oh gosh…other things? I know it sounds like I’m belittling them, but I don’t mean to. It just slightly bothers me to see an artist with so much tunnel vision about what life has to offer. I’m generalizing. They have a number of pieces with some incredibly inspirational and touching appreciations of life, especially their older albums. Splitting the albums between their topics they’re fairly half and half. Heartthrob, The Con, If It Was You, and So Jealous seem romance focused, while Sainthood, This Business of Art, and Under Feet Like Ours seem elsewhere in the mindscape. As for their more existential pieces, Hype is one of my favorites. There are two released versions of it. In this version off of Under Feet Like Ours I adore the way in which the simple acoustic set still builds intensity as the lyrics hit the prechorus. The backing vocals are also interestingly layered, with a mix of percussive vocal sounds and tones in an almost A Capella fashion. There is a lot of depth despite its limited instrumental use. The other version of the song is on This Business of Art and has a wider set of instrumentation, most noticeably the drums, and sounds a touch stronger. It however has less of the backing vocals I am so fond of and is lacking the vocal edit intro, rather just the guitar. Regardless, the lyrics are poetry. You can take them as you like, but “We don’t know so we wait for tomorrow, We don’t know know so we only go forward. Two times in your life you will trace the edge, You will sink your toes in.” floors me every time with it’s weight. I’m human, I know that. I feel it in my shoes when I walk, and to hear it laid out in vocal vibrations with such a lovely cadence. I can’t handle it.

TL;DR Tegan and Sara will break your heart. Hype is a beautiful song and if you want to keep your head, you ought likely to refrain from digesting it.

-A