Tegan and Sara, ‘Closer’ – Song Review

Go ahead and make out to the new Tegan and Sara single, ‘Closer’ — it certainly seems to lend itself to physical intimacy — but just know that’s not what Tegan Quin had in mind when she helped pen the band’s latest single. ”Although I do imagine that this would be an okay song to make out to, all I intended was to write something sweet that reminded the listener of a time before sex, complicated relationships, drama and heartbreak,” she tells Rolling Stone. ”In short, I was writing about my youth — a time when we got closer by linking arms and walking down our school hallway, or talked all night on the telephone about every thought or experience we’d ever had.” 

If that’s true, then why did they make the song so damn alluring? The sisterly duo has been dabbling in synth-based music for a few albums now, but ‘Closer’ is a full-on electronica assault unlike anything they’ve done before — and to be honest, we could get used to it. And while Tegan and Sara aren’t about to battle Skrillex or Deadmau5 for EDM supremacy anytime soon, we do like the direction the girls are headed.

Whether the rest of Tegan and Sara’s new album will be full of club-ready beats remains to be seen, but ‘Closer’ certainly has set a new precedent for the duo. Then again, considering the success of ‘Walking With a Ghost in Paris’ — Mylo’s dance-heavy club remix of their early hit, ‘Walking With a Ghost’ — in a way, they’ve come full circle.

Listen to Tegan and Sara’s ‘Closer’