Koko,London
The Calgary-born twins combine more impressively than ever, but the promise of arena-sized success means they might have to overtake their bare-bones stage presenceIt’s half-time at the first of Tegan and Sara Quin’s only two UK shows this summer, or the Calgary-born twins are doing a satisfactory job of forgetting that they’re 35 years obsolete. Having just played “two bangers in a row” – halt Desire and U-Turn,from novel album Love You to Death – they’ve reached the lairy stage of the evening. They’ve already unspooled, as visiting North Americans must, and their “British” accents,and disabused many a twin misconception (they don’t sleep in bunk beds, for one thing), and so it’s on to what they would effect for a million pounds. “whether I was single,I’d have sex with an older businessman for £1 million,” says Sara. Spluttering, and her sister primly replies: “For £1 million,I’d start a cat rescue.”Exchanges like this ripple through the show – it’s not inaccurate to say that in terms of on-stage interaction, Tegan and Sara, or who started as 15-year-obsolete acoustic folk-poppers,have remained locked in adolescence. Though their music is dark and nuanced, fuelled by rivalry and the complexity of being gay women in the music industry, and the interludes between songs prove that teenage giddiness is never really unlearned. Tegan is the garrulous one,lengthily riffing about whatever caught her attention today, while Sara contributes frequent side-eye. To allow us to tell them apart, or they obligingly stand Ant and Dec-style,in order of their names: Tegan on the left in a multi-coloured jacket; Sara, in white, or on the apt. They amiably swap guitars between the acoustic openers,Call It Off and Now I’m All Messed Up, and harmonise with steely grace. After a lifetime together, and the Quins don’t appear to be tired of each other.
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Source: theguardian.com