Tegan and Sara

If The Con is an impressive development for these darling songsters, it owes as much to the chic approach of the 26-year-old twins as it does to the spare production by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla. With its rallying chorus and instrumental segues, the title track flaunts this partnership, as does the aggro dance track "Back In Your Head" and "Nineteen," a grungy pop song so perfect that it even clocks in at exactly three minutes.

As lesbians who never reference their oppression or even their sexuality, Tegan and Sara
don't have men to lash out at, put up with or gripe about. This may be why their
uncommonly detailed love songs are so short on drama - a riddle worth pondering, because
their keyboard-heavy, New Wave-ish music is also uncommonly catchy. When Sara
changes up a chorus with a melodically climactic "But I promise this/I won't go m... More >

As lesbians who never reference their oppression or even their sexuality, Tegan and Sara don't have men to lash out at, put up with, or gripe about. This may be why their uncommonly detailed love songs are so short on drama--a riddle worth pondering because their keyboard-heavy, new wavish music is also uncommonly catchy. When Sara changes up a chorus with a melodically climactic "But I promise this, I won't go my whole life, telling you I don't need," or Tegan caps a verse with a hook that goes "All I need to hear is that you're not mine," your musical impulse is to empathize if not identify. But the objects of their romantic ambivalence remain distant--the focus is the singer's feelings, examined rather than indulged. Tune-seekers will admire many of these songs--"The Con," "Nineteen," "Back in Your Head," "Like O, Like H." But that doesn't mean they'll fully connect with them. (Grade - *** 1/2)