Tegan And Sara - The Con Review
by Dan MacIntosh
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The sisterly pair, Tegan And Sara, make alternative duo music. And unlike, say, Indigo Girls, their songs often stray adventurously away from predictable, acoustic guitar-driven folk. This makes The Con just as fun for its instrumental surprises as it is for those lovely familial harmonies.
These girls show off their unusually beautiful sonic colors with "Are You Ten Years Ago", which puts pounding drums - of all things - right up front in the mix. And rather than something reassuring, this track comes out more like early XTC experimentation. Nevertheless, "Soil, Soil" rides over acoustic guitar and piano, and is - for the most part -- gentle. Still, this same creative percussive focus returns, albeit less aggressively, on one called "Nineteen". But even in their gentler moments, these girls -- who sometimes sound like they're yelping when singing - give off a sense of unease.
Yet this is not to say Tegan And Sara cannot play pop-rock straight when they want to. "Hop A Plane", for example, is propelled by choppy, new wave guitar. Even so, it also includes the unusually honest chorus of "All I want to hear is that you're not mine."
This CD opens with "I Was Married", a fairly traditional sounding title. But thereafter, one finds no happy endings within. Take, for instance, "Knife Going In": "I feel the knife going in, I'm feeling anxious. Not enough to kill me, I thought it would happen fast." Tegan And Sara lyrics are filled with many such phrases that you won't often hear in polite company.
The Con is laid out graphically like the yellowed pages of an old book. Its CD booklet is also illustrated with a few plain pictures of the girls. One finds them sitting together in the studio, and in the second drawing, they're seated back-to-back.
Tegan And Sara music leaves the impression of many questions being asked, with few answers forthcoming. It should come as no surprise to anybody that The White Stripes covered "Walking With A Ghost". This is a smart and confrontational act, much like that Jack and Meg White couplet. Listening to The Con may not leave you feeling happy and content with the world. But if you're the edgy type, this music will fit your nervous lifestyle -- like over-caffeinated coffee.
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Tegan And Sara - The Con
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