Tegan and Sara Quin don’t compose music the way many bands do. Tegan lives in Vancouver, while Sara lives in Montreal.

And unlike many bands, the twins compose songs independent of each other, e-mailing lyrics, melodies or complete songs to the other.

“We don’t collaborate in the actual song writing process. … That is not necessarily the most traditional way to make music,” Sara said. “We’ve never been like that. I always wrote songs by myself.”

Sara said she prefers to write her songs in solitude.

“I think of it more like a writer, who spends weeks writing a book,” she said. “I have a funny, weird closet that I write in. It’s not like a normal closet. It’s like a little boxy room that has closetthings in it.”

The time apart from her twin sister Tegan doesn’t hurt the music or the band, according to Sara. Somehow, she said, all the albums come together and the music is made without the collaboration.

“It’s nice to know that I get to go back to my own little universe that doesn’t have anything to do with Tegan and Sara,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where we live.”

They’ve been out on the road touring since the beginning of June, and they get plenty of time together. Sara and Tegan will be stopping off in Carrboro for a performance at Cat’s Cradle Saturday promoting songsfrom their fifth album The Con, which was released in July.

While, Sara said she loves touring, she added it’s not always going to be conducive to her lifestyle.

“I will make music forever, but I don’t know that this will be my job forever,” she said. “I really want to have a family. I love making music but being in a band on the road, one day that won’t be the thingthat inspires me.”

Sara said she wasn’t even sure that she was ever going to make a career out of music when she and Tegan first hit the road.

“In the beginning is was difficult,” she said. “We toured by a Greyhound Bus. We stuck with it, and it obviously started to work.”

Earning money by playing music, Sara said, is just an added bonus.

“I had no idea that I would actually make money. Not that we make very much money, FYI,” she said laughing. “My first tax return depressed me. You think to yourself, well, f**k it. I love music.”

Money isn’t the only stressful aspect of touring.

“There is a way to have relationships. You have to be pretty patient,” she said. “It’s a strange business that takes up a lot of energy. You said to them, ‘I’m really lovable and its awesome to be in arelationship with me, but now, I’ll be back in six months.'”

Sara said she isn’t so concerned with creating a new relationship. Right now,she’s writing about them and touring to sing about them.

“It’s about love and relationships,” she said about The Con. “It’s appealing record to a lot of different people. It’s a strong album from beginning to end.”

When Tegan and Sara get done touring, they plan to go back to their respectivecities and spend a few months off — possibly writing songs for a newalbum.