The Con

Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he focus is the singer's feelings, examined rather than indulged. Tune seekers will admire many of these songs..." Spin - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The album peaks with the bouncy, piano-driven 'Back in Your Head' and the Cars-esque 'Hop a Plane'..." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[They] fairly blaze through THE CON's 14 compact, supercharged tracks -- their vocals delivering anxious lyrics that sound like fragments of overheard cellphone conversation." CMJ - "If there's one thing that Tegan and Sara have always excelled at, it's the ability to write a damn catchy tune." Alternative Press - Included in Alternative Press's '10 Essential Albums Of 2007' -- "[T]he Quin sisters have released their most succinct musical statement to date with THE CON." Uncut - "[V]ocalists Tegan and Sara are back with THE CON, a collection of angsty, catchy pop..." Mojo - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]heir most tightly-structured....It's the sparing 'I Was Married' and the despairing 'Soil Soil' that mark this pair out as lifers." Q - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] collection of short, buzzy indie-pop songs crammed with hooks, intuitive harmonies and much intense musing on the agony and ecstasy of young lust..." The Word - "[They sing] with a mildly unhinged honesty at its finest on the yearning 'Nineteen'....They're talented writers..."

After several years spent perpetually bubbling under as the next big thing, Canadian identical twin sisters Tegan and Sara make their first foray onto the mainstream stage with the self-assured The Con. Filing away some of the duo's more overtly indie-rock edges while keeping well away from glossy slickness, The Con is a big, bright-sounding album with a ton of catchy pop hooks, presented in arrangements that favor both loud guitars and dancefloor-friendly synthesizers. The duo's folkish roots peek through occasionally, as on the opening "I Was Married," but overall, The Con is an unapologetic alternative-pop record--along the lines of Garbage or the Strokes--that maintains enough of the sisters' edgy personalities to keep longtime fans from considering it a sellout move. ~ Charity Stafford|