Though indie pop sisters Tegan and Sara Quin are known for their witty back-and-forth stage banter, it might be fair to say that during their last U.S. tour, in support of 2007′s "The Con," some of their concert humor may have been a little, well … forced.

"With ‘The Con,’ everybody knew it was a breakup record … and it was so intense to play live," according to Tegan, who recently spoke to Blast about her and Sara’s latest offering, "Sainthood." "It would dredge up all of my feelings again. … Sometimes after (the shows) I would just like, come backstage and … feel like slitting my wrists."

But this time around, as the Canadian crooners prepare to kick off their U.S. tour behind "Sainthood" with shows in Northampton on Thursday and Boston on Friday, things are looking up.

Even as they began pre-production for "Sainthood," which was released in October, both sisters were "in happier places" than they were on the previous record — Tegan finally won over the girl about whom much of "The Con" was written; the two are still dating — and that had an impact on their songwriting, she said. Even now, nearly four months after the record was released, the songs have less baggage attached, according to Tegan.

"The Con’ was such an emotional record," she said. "I thought ‘Sainthood’ was going to become more like that, and it’s not. … I feel like ‘Sainthood’ is different in that sense, and people are relating to it differently."

There are technical distinctions between the two as well. Though Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla was enlisted to produce both albums, for "The Con," Tegan and Sara recruited session musicians to flesh out the songs, including AFI’s Hunter Burgan and Weezer’s Matt Sharp splitting bass duties, and Walla’s Death Cab bandmate Jason McGerr on drums. With "Sainthood," the same core five band members played on each song — Tegan and Sara, plus Ted Gowans (guitar/keyboards), McGerr (drums) and Walla on bass.

"I think the major difference (between the two records) was just the consistency," Tegan explained. "With ‘The Con,’ it was kind of like two different bands. … I think it gave ‘Sainthood’ a really consistent sound, and it also, I think, sounds more like our band live."

Likewise, with "The Con," Sara and Tegan famously tracked drums, bass and keyboards in addition to their guitar and vocal parts before handing the demos off to Walla — resulting in near-complete versions of each song. On "Sainthood," the songwriting and recording was more of a collective process, Tegan said.

"We approached writing on ‘Sainthood’ a little differently. We didn’t do as much recording beforehand," she said. "We really tried to approach this record more like a band record, standing in a room, the five of us, playing together, seeing what came out of that. … We would (play) a song … you know, 40 times, and then took our favorite tracks."

The more straightforward approach yielded a fuller band sound (at the suggestion of Walla) and was another change of pace from "The Con," whose overdub-heavy tracks proved challenging to translate on stage.

"When (Walla) recorded ‘The Con’ with us, he’d never even seen us live," Quin explained. "(After we subsequently toured together) he was like, ‘You guys are a great live band. We should try to make a record that sounds like that.’ … Getting this record ready to play live was pretty easy because we’d already played the songs a hundred times."

Also the result of taking into account their live performances is one of the first things longtime fans may notice about "Sainthood"  — the absence of any acoustic ballads, which figure prominently in previous Tegan & Sara recordings. But, though Tegan described "Sainthood" as their "full-throttle affair," she was quick to point out that’s not indicative of a change in their approach to songwriting.

"I wrote tons of acoustic songs and ballads for this record," she said. "(But) songs like ‘On Directing’ and ‘Alligator’ and ‘Hell’ and ‘Don’t Rush’ and ‘The Cure’ … kind of stood out right away. And, as we were all gravitating towards those songs, I realized that this was going to be a much more aggressive record than our past records had been. … Our audiences are getting really big. We’re playing a lot of big theaters and big clubs, and the acoustic kind of quiet stuff isn’t as easy to do live. So we just kind of moved in that direction."

"But," she added, "having moved in that direction now for two records, I have to say that … I don’t know if we’ll make an acoustic record again completely, but I’m definitely getting that itch."

That "itch" resulted in a recently-announced show in Brooklyn on Feb. 15, which has been dubbed "A Very Special Evening With Tegan & Sara" and promises an intimate, stripped-down performance for less than 400 fans. The setting will likely be reminiscent of some of the twins’ first shows together more than a decade ago.

As the 29-year-olds approach their 12-year anniversary of making music together professionally, they’re eager to impart lessons they’ve learned along the way, and have recently taken on behind-the-scenes supporting roles in other musicians’ careers.

In between "The Con" and "Sainthood," Tegan produced Vancouver singer CHAR2D2′s debut EP, while Sara did A&R work for Australian duo (and frequent Tegan & Sara touring partners) An Horse, and is currently overseeing production of the first solo offering from Northern State’s Hesta Prynn.

"For the last 10 years, (we’ve) been really highly involved in the business of our band," Tegan pointed out. "And that basic day-to-day stuff has really helped us when we started to work with other bands, for sure. I mean, projects like CHAR2D2 or An Horse, I’m sure that (they) would have gotten off the ground without our help, but I think having us there pushing them on the sidelines, you know, giving them feedback, helping them connect the dots … helps move (them) forward faster."

"I think both of us are really interested in helping artists, especially female artists in our business, because especially in indie rock and the alternative scene, there’s less support for women," she added. "There’s more than there was 10 years ago, but I think it’s still kind of a pet project for Sara and I."

They’ll also team up with a slew of female artists this summer, having signed on to appear on some dates of the much-hyped reincarnation of the Lilith Fair.

"We’re really excited about it," Tegan said. "As a rock band, an alternative rock band that’s been playing for 10 years, you know, 99 percent of the time when we play festivals, we are one of three female acts. And that’s sometimes with, like, 30 bands. So, to have a whole festival designed to appeal to women … I think it’s really amazing."

But while the Quins may be staunch feminists and outspoken advocates for LGBT equality, Tegan said she doesn’t feel that political subjects have a place in their music.

"My God, if we put out a political record, people would be running from us, and I know that," Tegan noted. "I don’t feel inspired to write about politics or religion or sexuality or gender. I feel inspired to talk about those things, and I feel inspired to fundraise for those things, and I feel inspired to educate myself about those things. But I’ve never felt like sitting down and writing a song about it … because I’m not sure that I’ll be reaching anyone new. I’ll just be preaching to the converted, you know?"

That (and the fact that she and Sara are Canadian) didn’t stop them from publicly supporting Barack Obama and speaking out against (ultimately successful) Proposition 8 campaign to ban gay marriage in California during their U.S. tour last fall.

"We try to infuse politics into our Web site, into our fundraising campaigns, and into our live show, in a way that’s subtle and not offensive," she said. "But I don’t know that I need to write a song about it. … Maybe that’ll come with age. I know every musician goes through that phase where they write their political record. So maybe I will. I just feel like when I’m singing, I need to sing about love."

And sing about love she does — as well as all the heartbreaks that come with it. While "Sainthood" is not as much of an emotional bulldozer as "The Con," it’s still ripe with the lovesick "torch songs" the Quins are known for.

"Sara and I both really, really got into pop music … last year," Tegan said. "You saw a lot of men in music last year, especially in hip-hop, talking about their failures. Like, it (had) less machismo. … Where songs like (Sara’s) ‘Sentimental Tune’ and ‘Alligator’ came from was the sentimental kind of vibe that was behind pop music last year."

"My songs on this record, it was really easy to pick out which ones were going to make it," she explained. "Like, I wrote ‘Someday’ and ‘The Ocean’ and ‘Northshore’ when I was feeling really depressed, and that’s why those three songs made it on the record. Pretty much every other song I wrote (that didn’t make) this record, I was really happy. And ‘Hell’ and ‘Don’t Rush’ and ‘The Cure’ I wrote during the ‘Con’ time, so I was really depressed then, too."

Sensing a pattern? You’re not alone.

"When I’m depressed, I write so much more, and my songs are better. I admit it, too," Tegan acknowledged matter-of-factly. "If I’m not feeling introspective and sad, it’s hard for me to write. … Which isn’t to say that I have to be in a bad place to write. It just means I have to be able to tap into that. And right now, I don’t feel able to tap into that at all. So, I haven’t written a song in … it’s been a long time. And I feel bad about that."

"Maybe I’ll start writing songs about how sad I feel about not being sad," she quipped.

But although she’s grateful that onstage performances no longer leave her feeling like a wreck, Tegan — who was in good spirits but perceptibly exhausted when we spoke in mid-January during the band’s Canadian tour — admitted that the physical and technical challenges of playing "Sainthood" live compensate for the lesser heartache.

"Emotionally, there’s only a few songs on the record that get me really riled up. … which is a relief, because we’re still playing nine songs off ‘The Con’ live, and I still feel sad when I play those songs," she said, laughing. "(But ‘Sainthood’) is very difficult artistically for me. Like, the parts that I wrote, and the harmonies, and the pacing and just the intensity of it, it’s challenging me as a musician. … I feel exhausted. It’s just such an extensive, intense, fast record. And I think it’s making us a really good band."

"We’re playing two hours every night and my throat is hoarse and I’m tired and my stomach feels sore every night from singing back-to-back songs," she went on. "But yeah, a few months out, I’m really happy with ‘Sainthood.’ I love how it sounds live. I love playing the songs live. … I don’t feel like slitting my wrists when I get off stage. … Instead of feeling depressed and sad, I start to feel really inspired and empowered."

Tegan & Sara U.S. Tour Dates:

Feb. 12          Northampton “Calvin Theatre*

Feb. 13          Boston “The Orpheum*

Feb. 15          Brooklyn “Music Hall of Williamsburg

Feb. 16          Upper Darby, PA          Tower Theatre*

Feb. 17          Washington, D.C.          Warner Theatre*

Feb. 18          Richmond, VA          The National*

Feb. 20          Tampa, FL          Tampa Theatre*

Feb. 21           Boca Raton, FL          Sunset Cove*

Feb. 23          Atlanta, GA          Variety Playhouse*

Feb. 24          New Orleans, LA          Tipitina’s*

Feb. 25          Dallas, TX           Palladium*

Feb. 26          Austin, TX          Bass Concert Hall*

Feb. 27          Houston, TX          The Warehouse*

March 2          Las Vegas, NV          House of Blues*

March 3          San Diego, CA          Copley Symphony Hall*

March 5          Oakland, CA          Fox Theatre*

March 24          Minneapolis, MN          The Orpheum*

March 25          Milwaukee, WI          The Riverside*

March 26          Chicago, IL          The Aragon*

March 27          Detroit, MI          Royal Oak Theater*

March 28          Cleveland, OH          Lakewood Civic*

March 30          Columbus, OH          Promo West Pavilion*

March 31           Nashville, TN            Ryman Auditorium*

April 2           St. Louis, MO          The Pageant*

April 3          Kansas City, MO          Uptown Theatre*

April 4          Denver, CO          The Ogden*

April 6          Salt Lake City, UT          In the Venue*

April 8          Portland, OR           Keller Auditorium*

* w/ Steel Train and Holly Miranda

I’m completely sincere when I say thank you, Tegan and Sara Quin, for writing songs that make me feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest and pounded into a pulp on the pavement.”

The Canadian twins have always had an uncanny knack for making everyday, universal heartaches (“I imagine you, body next to another,” Tegan repeats on “The Ocean”) seem particularly poignant and profound, and that trend continues on “Sainthood,” their sixth full-length album, released today.

Musically, “Sainthood” doesn’t live up to the last Tegan & Sara album, 2007′s exceptional “The Con,” but the sisters continue their unparalleled lyrical examination of personal shortcomings, especially in relation to unrequited love.

The album’s title, culled from the Leonard Cohen lyric “I practiced all my sainthood / I gave to one and all / But the rumors of my virtue / They moved her not at all,” refers, according to the sisters, to their practice of being on their best behavior in the pursuit of relationships.

“All I said to you / All I did for you / Seems so silly to me now,” Tegan sings on “The Cure,” while Sara, on “Alligator,” promises herself, “No hissy fits / Mind my manners / Won’t make a scene / Oh, over you.”

From the jarring opening chords of the Sara-penned “Arrow” to Tegan’s hard-hitting “Northshore,” it’s clear that “Sainthood” is a musical leap for the duo. Sara, the quirkier of the two in terms of songwriting, penned the majority of the songs on “Sainthood,” and it shows. Tegan, meanwhile, seems to have absorbed the style of punk artists like Against Me! and AFI’s Hunter Burgan (who co-wrote three of the songs on “Sainthood”) she’s recently collaborated with.

Glaringly omitted from the record are tender acoustic ballads that were strong points on “The Con” and 2004′s “So Jealous.” Bonus track “Light Up,” Sara’s gorgeous homage to her mother, falls into this category, but though it’s included on the iTunes version of the album, it’s regrettable that it wasn’t included on the regular version (though, in fairness, it likely would have felt out of place).

With most of the 13 songs clocking in under three minutes, some feel unfinished, or even that they never had the chance to truly get off the ground in the first place. Album closer “Someday” seems particularly (and surprisingly) directionless.

At 29, the twins aren’t afraid to mock their own adolescent yearnings (“I know it turns you off when I get talkin’ like a teen,” Sara pines on the stellar “On Directing.”) Tegan & Sara joke that they are “committed to obsessively seek and discuss love until the end of time,” but all kidding aside, it’s a dialogue in which everyone can find solace.

Tegan & Sara play the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on February 12, 2010 and The Orpheum in Boston on February 13.

Before a recent An Horse show in their hometown of Brisbane, Kate Cooper, one-half of the Australian duo, was asked if she had ever been to the particular venue before.

“I had” she said in an interview with Blast a few days later. “I used to clean the toilets there.”

An Horse’s back story is a classic indie rock fairy tale. Call it “High Fidelity” meets “Slumdog Millionaire.” The band was conceived in a now-defunct record store in downtown Brisbane, and cultivated through a series of happy accidents that allowed Cooper and her band mate, Damon Cox, to go from working minimum-wage jobs and harboring rock star fantasies to landing a record deal and touring the United States.

Their debut full-length album, “Rearrange Beds” will be released in the States on March 17 and is already available on iTunes.

The pair met in 2005, when Cooper was hired at Skinny’s, a windowless independent record store in downtown Brisbane where Cox worked. (“We didn’t deserve to be called Skinny’s” Cooper quips. “We seriously went to work every morning and ate doughnuts.”)

When business was slow, they spent time bonding over a shared love of music, blaring mutual favorites like Nirvana and Metallica over the store’s speakers. Both admit they were probably less than stellar employees.

“We’d get a coffee in the morning and talk about a music all day” said Cooper, 29. “That was basically what we did.”

With both playing in their own bands — Cooper a singer/guitarist with Iron On and Cox a drummer with Intercooler and Mary Trembles — they became fast friends and regulars at each other’s shows.

They recall days spent driving around Brisbane, pretending they were famous musicians on their way to play a show for legions of adoring fans.

“I would ask Kate what city we were in” Cox said, with an audible trace of embarrassment. “It was kind of weird.”

In late 2007, Cox asked Cooper if she would be willing to perform solo as the opening act for one of his bands’ shows.

“She said, “ËœWell, why don’t you get up and play drums on a couple songs?’” he recalled. “And we, being the perfectionists that we are, had to have a few rehearsals before we could get up and play together. And we did, and it just really clicked.”

“We always had this idea in the back of our mind that maybe one day we’d like to try and write music together” said Cox, 32. “Once it happened, it just felt really good, and it kind of went from there.”

Using Skinny’s as a rehearsal space, the duo started practicing and writing songs together regularly.

“Even though we were busy working in the record store and doing other things we still always made time for An Horse practice, even though we didn’t even have gigs” said Cooper, who borrowed the band name from a grammatically-deficient sweatshirt she was once given.

By December, they were on a roll. On a whim, they decided to record a handful of songs with a friend in Brisbane and completed a five-song EP, with no plans to ever officially release it. But Cooper slipped a copy of the unfinished demos to Tegan and Sara Quin of indie duo Tegan & Sara, who coincidentally were playing a show in Brisbane the night they finished recording. Cooper had kept in touch with the Canadian twins after meeting them months prior when they gave an in-store performance at Skinny’s.

After hearing the EP, the Quins asked Cooper and Cox to be the opening act on their upcoming tour of the United States. To say the offer took them by surprise would be an understatement. An Horse had only played one show — an in-store performance at Skinny’s a week after they finished the EP to mark the store’s closing, with Cooper’s and Cox’s other bands rounding out the lineup. But they accepted anyway.

“We were at a point where … we still only had like seven songs or something, so we had to write some more so we’d have a full set to play” Cox recalled.

During the “Out of Hibernation” tour in the spring of 2008, Cox and Cooper found themselves playing mid-size venues across the United States with Tegan & Sara. It paved the way for them to spend much of the second half of the year touring on their own in the U.S. and Australia, including an appearance at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York during which, Cooper said, she was “literally dying” with a bad case of the flu.

Tegan and Sara Quin continue to be An Horse’s biggest cheerleaders. Sara in particular offered feedback during the recording of “Rearrange Beds” last summer and was instrumental in the band signing with Mom & Pop, a fledgling indie label based in New York. She also devoted several weeks to doing A&R work for An Horse at the end of last year.

Despite the help they’ve gotten on the business end of things, though, Cooper and Cox say they’re not looking to expand their core lineup any time soon.

“I don’t think Damon and I ever really made a conscious decision we would start a two-piece” Cooper said. “It was like, oh, let’s play music together, and we did. And it just fit really well and worked. … We thought it sounded great just the two of us and we didn’t need anyone else.”

Some people may find the sight of diminutive songwriter Kaki King lugging around a guitar case a bit incongruous. And unfortunately, they’re often not shy about pointing it out.

“I walk through the airport with a guitar case … and like half the time, swear to God, some douchebag’ll be going, ‘Oh, you gonna play us a song? Damn, that’s a pretty big guitar for a little lady,’” a flu-stricken and audibly annoyed King said recently, chatting via phone from the Portland airport as she waited for a flight to San Francisco for her next show. (“I decided not to drive and infect everyone else in the van,” she explained.)

But while King doesn’t court fame, the brazen belittlement from gawking onlookers is beginning to get old.

“A lot of things that used to not bother me at all are kind of starting to bother me,” the feisty guitarist continued. “No one’s ever gonna know who I am at the fuckin’ airport and that’s fine (but) it feels like they’re assuming that I can’t play guitar. It sends this message of, ‘You’re an idiot and you don’t know what you’re doing.’ …. For so many years I wouldn’t give a shit, and now it’s like, ‘Would you say that to a guy? Fuck you.’”

Anyone who has heard or seen King perform knows that, at the very least, she “knows what she’s doing.” In March, the 28-year-old musician released her fourth full-length album, “Dreaming of Revenge.”

Last year, when she wasn’t recording her own album, King kept herself busy by collaborating with a number of artists including the Foo Fighters and Tegan & Sara on their 2007 releases. She also contributed music to the films “Into the Wild” and “August Rush,” and acted as a hand double in the latter.

Despite the occasional aggravations she faces, however, King said the title of her latest effort, which is taken from a quote by painter Paul Gauguin, doesn’t offer a glimpse into her psyche. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

“I take (the sentiment) to be so cynical and sort of horrible but also incredibly funny and tongue in cheek and just sort of true at times,” King explained. “I’m certainly not a vengeful person.”

A critical darling, King has noticed that enthusiasts unfailingly mention her gender in the same breath as her musical prowess- but also acknowledges that it’s a factor that sets her apart from many of her peers.

“This is a boys’ club,” she said matter-of-factly. “You’re like the lone female a lot of times when you’re doing this job. … I feel like when people go, ‘She’s a great female guitarist,’ it’s like, ‘oh, she’s really good for a girl.’ When there’s too much emphasis on me being a girl, I’m like, who cares? Yeah, I’m a girl. Ok, cool. We’ve established that. I definitely don’t need people to acknowledge the fact that I have tits.”

King picked up the guitar at age 5, but initially drums were her instrument of choice.

“I thought the drums were the shit and I was gonna be a drummer, but I was always a better guitar player,” she said.

Her sense of percussion allows her to create a virtual one-woman show during her live performances, although she tours with a full band. King’s innovative playing style involves alternating between fingerpicking and strumming the strings with acrylic nails, and tapping the neck of her guitar. Her fingers fly across the fretboard, creating a mind-bogglingly manic blur.

But King nonchalantly downplays her pseudo-slap technique.

“To me, it doesn’t really seem that outlandish or weird,” she said.

King describes “Dreaming of Revenge” as being replete with “slow, simple melodies,” layered over her intricate guitar parts. The predominantly instrumental record kicks off with “Bone Chaos in the Castle,” a groovy two-and-a-half minute, perk-your-ears jam sure to capture the listener’s attention. Among the few vocal tracks thrown into the mix are catchy first single “Pull Me Out Alive” and the dreamy, folk-sounding “Life Being What It Is.” In keeping with her somnolent motif, the liner notes for “Dreaming of Revenge,” designed by Seb Jarnot, include a build-your-own mobile kit of sorts, complete with cardboard punch-outs.

King said the record brings her a step closer to cultivating her own distinctive sound.

“I write very sad music and I write sad melodies in particular,” she said. “I’m not just a ‘female guitarist.’ I’m trying really hard to become Kaki King. I want to sound like, me. It’s really, really difficult. Only a few people in their lifetime really get that, but that’s still the goal … to start playing a tune and sound like you and have people recognize it to be you and no one else. That takes a lifetime, and I think people that people know that that’s the path I’m on.”

For songs that don’t fit into that path, King has a side project called Daysleeper (“It’s a reference to the fact that I sleep all day”) with her bandmate Dan Brantigan to record occasionally improvised material and “weird, quirky, techno-y, almost dance-y track” that diverge from King’s typical fare.

Currently in the midst of a tour that runs through mid-April, King said she’s excited about presenting the new tracks on the road.

“I’m really psyched,” she said enthusiastically. “All this material is so fresh.”

“It’s tough to keep it creative though, and that’s what I’ve always tried to do,” she added. “Ultimately, I’d rather be known as like, ‘Oh yeah, that sounds like Kaki King,’ rather than ‘Oh, she’s pretty good for a girl.’”