For a new memoir and companion album, the indie-rock twin
act dove deep into their awkward teen years. BY LEAH GREENBLATT
Te g an
THE FIFTH AVENUE FLAGSHIP OF
the New York Public Library
contains all kinds of literary won-
ders: a Gutenberg Bible; Virginia
Woolf ’s walking stick; the original
scruff-eared muse for Winnie
the Pooh. And on this baking Man-
hattan afternoon, sisters Tegan
and Sara Quin.
They’re here, like almost every
book lover in the building, to
soak up the grand archways and
ineffable moth-wing smell of the
more than half their lives is not lost
on the Calgary-born twins. Still,
says Tegan, “The concept of writing
about making our records or get-
ting signed seemed so boring to us.
The difficult arcs and the trauma
[of being a teen] is the part that
I want people to relate and connect
to.” Adds Sara: “I’ll see myself in
the audience at our shows—acne,
body shame, awkwardness. I love
those kids, and I want them to read
a book not about how we became
famous or how glamorous going
to the Oscars is or whatever. I want
them to know that us back then
was just like they are now.”
It was looking back, fortuitously,
that also led to the book’s compan-
ion album, culled from homemade
demos found amidst the old notes,
photos, and other ephemera dug
up in High School’s discovery
process. Reworked, the 12 songs on
Hey, I’m Just Like You are both
a vibrant testimony to the duo’s raw
adolescent talent and a direct
line to the polished, eclectic sound
of their present. “Music and art and
culture has changed everything
about me, and informed who I am,”
Tegan says. “So if we can do that
for other people, it just consoles me
on this deep cellular level.”
The sisters have a lot more to
say—about the wave of proudly
queer artists who’ve followed in
their wake, meeting Canadian
PM Justin Trudeau, and the tribula-
tions of touring (“like, a decade of
diarrhea and ear infections,” Tegan
deadpans). But there’s more to do
today, so Sara jumps in mid-thought.
“Save that for the second book,” she
says, laughing, as they head out
into the late-summer sunlight.Went Back to High SchoolandSarastacks—and to talk about the
upcoming release of their own first
book, a joint memoir called High
School. If the patrons sneaking
glances recognize them, though, it’s
not as freshly minted authors but
as the Canadian indie-rock jugger-
naut known as Tegan and Sara,
whose skillful pairing of serrated
lyrics and pop-sweetened harmo-
nies has made them festival-circuit
stars for over two decades. The
fact that at 39 they’ve been famous↑ The memoir from
Tegan (left) and
Sara Quin (right)
drops Sept. 24; the
companion album
hits on Sept. 27Why