Sara Quin - A Love Letter

Image taken from www.charlyncamron.com apparently.

There are some bands where it is only a question of time before I get into them. Like gravity all it takes is a little push and I fall. Well I never thought I would fall as hard as I have for Tegan and Sara.

I always liked Tegan and Sara, every song of theirs I heard on the radio I enjoyed, but I never bothered to get any of their CDs or download any of their music. Then one random day wanting something new to add to my winamp list I decided it was time to give those Calgarian girls their fair chance. After a few YouTube videos I was sold on Tegan and Sara. They were solid, with an impressive list of songs I could really enjoy, but there was something else drawing me to them.

Sara is my kind of girl,
a rock star

I know their identical twins, and you know me starting a sentence off like that means I’m about to say something stupid; anyway, I know their identical twins, but there is something about Sara I just find adorable. It’s her smile, or maybe the fact she smiles more often, or maybe the slight slenderness of her face, or maybe something intangible, but I think Sara Quin is just so cute. I explained this to a friend of mine and he was quick to say that he thought the same thing only about Tegan. It was agreed then and there that if we ever met Tegan and Sara, he would hit on Tegan and I would hit on Sara. We shook on it. So I would like to pre-emptively apologize to the Quin sisters if we ever happen to meet you.


Now the average person might look upon this conversation and think we’re idiots because Tegan and Sara are lesbians, so what could we possible hope to accomplish by hitting on them? First of all, I would like to point out an even greater hurdle to overcome; we don’t know them. Thinking you are just going to pick up a rock star is fairly unrealistic, don’t you think? Them being lesbians is irrelevant if we have never met, having said that, yes, them being lesbians does make this far away fantasy rather impossible. I am sure if I ever do meet the lovely Sara Quin I will probably just shower her with very flattering compliments and nothing more. The real problem here is I don’t know Tegan and Sara, and yet it feels like I do.

Sara is my kind of girl,
Tomboyish but girly.

The Quin sisters have an amazing ability to make their songs very personal and relatable. It would almost feel like they are are airing out the dirty laundry of their lives if not for their sense of poetry keeping details as general as possible. I often say when writing “less is more.” I used to write long winded music in reviews until I learned “less is more.” In poetry and song lyrics, it is almost always better to say general things without providing all the details. Let the audience fill in the blanks for themselves. Tegan and Sara are exceptionally good at this.

As time went on, I couldn’t get Sara Quin out of my head, and I know the exact moment she stormed her way into my heart. Tegan and Sara were doing an interview on Q-Radio for their 2009 album Sainthood, when Sara had a little speech about relationships. She explained how we, as a society, put too much emphasize on relationships in our lives. Society treats people like they have failed in life if you fail in your romantic life, when really one’s life is composed of so much more than just romance. There are our careers, our spiritual well being, our friendships, families, and creative satisfaction that also fill up our lives. Sara Quin went on to explain that she was starting to think she wasn’t made out for romance and love, it just didn’t suit her, and maybe she was destined to be happy alone, but that wasn’t a sad thing, or a failure in any way. She was just a strange animal too unique to truly be compatible with any other person.

Tegan and Sara on QTV talking about Sainthood:

These were sentiments I had been saying to myself for some time, and I could not help but feel a kinship with Sara. I too had failed in love, and I had begun to refuse to believe that made me a failure in life. I had come to realize I was a strange animal too unique for any ordinary person to appreciate. We were alike insofar that both of us had found the strength within to see past society’s silly expectations. It only takes one soul to be one’s self.

In that moment, Sara Quin strung all my heart strings and I knew immediately I loved her. I am twenty-eight years of age and I know full well how foolish my feelings are. This was the first time in my life I had formed a crush on someone I had never met face to face. It was the first time for me that a relationship of fan and artist has grown in this manner. I respect and admire many musicians, some of them lovely women, but never has this admiration grown to something so emotional.

I don’t know Sara Quin, I could be projecting my feelings upon her, I could be reading between the lines of her songs, and her interviews searching for hints to suggest we share more in common than we really do. Was I being unreasonable to think I found someone who was a kindred spirit? Had Sara Quin succeeded so brilliantly in expressing herself she had reached every corner of my iron heart?

Sara is bueatiful and
utterly unobtainable,
the perfect woman.

Then I remember just how productive and strong I was when I was in love with my favourite girl in the whole world. I recalled all the little things I used to do to impress her even when she was not present, or even when I knew she would not care, and I liked what I was then. So I thought for a while and I realized that I am no fool, at least not so foolish to contrive unrealistic expectations of what might be. There is a great distance between fan and artist that is not easily breached, preventing me from ever even trying something foolish. Then I thought what am I fighting against here? Sara’s smiling face always seems to make me smile. Her sentimental tunes brightened my days. Is it foolish to admire someone? As dark and lonely as I have become, it is nice to take a moment and remind myself, that yes; I can love.

Sara Quin sometimes tries to tell a story about her first time falling in love. I say she tries to tell the story as she is often interrupted by her sister Tegan, but I believe I was able to piece together the point of her story. She was in love with someone who was not a lesbian; it was an impossible love, an unrequited love. This event in her youth set a standard she has found difficult to escape. Sara often talks about unrequited love and how it is addictive, well, she’s right, believe me I know, at first I thought it was unlike me to let myself get carried away by a lesbian rock star, but the more I think about the more it completely suits me.

The Quin sisters are very talented, amazing, beautiful people. I do not like them, for that is too mild an emotion, I love them. I love Sara Quin.


Keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly