Arts & Entertainment

 

 

 

 

 
  
  
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

Con Artists: Tegan
& Sara’s “The Con”

Mark Fisher, OP Contributor

aw first Tegan and Sara album I
listened to was If It Was You back in
2002. I remember goign to the Virgin
Megastore (which has now been
replaced by HMV) and walking up to a
listening station (which has now been
replaced by MySpace), listening to the
first four songs, and then immediately
buying the CD afterwards. Their latest
album, The Con, was released last
month, and listening to it the first time
reminded me of that moment. If I had
never listened to Tegan and Sara before,
the first three songs on this album would
have made me an instant fan.

Tegan and Sara are identical twin
sisters who have been making music
together for most of
their lives. For this
album, much like

their recent tour, are probably what led
to the first ever Tegan and Sara techno
song, “Are You Ten Years Ago?” This
is definitely new territory for them, and
the track feels massively out of place,
but after the fifth or sixth listen I did
begin to like it. Variety is always good,
right?

The title track on the album is the
one that really blew away. “The Con”
has some of the best lyrics I have ever
heard. It’s about someone who prevents
a breakup with their partner by acting
emotionally unstable, so that their
partner will feel that they need to stay
with the person in order to make sure
that they’re okay — passive abuse. The
delivery of the lyrics matches the tone

of the song perfectly,

a ‘The Con : has Tegan fires off the

verses rapidly, just like

2004's So Jealous, they SOME Of the best %w someone talks

recorded their own
demos separately, and
then sent the songs to
each other for input
and editing before
ever setting foot in the
studio or showing the songs to anyone
else. And just like perfectly identical
twins, both of them have the exact
number of songs (seven) on the final
album itself. Sara’s songs tend to be a
little darker, which isn’t surprising as
she did her initial album work in the
closet of her Montreal apartment and
claims on her blog that she rarely leaves
her house. Some of her song titles are a
little morbid, like “Knife Going In” and
“Burn Your Life Down”. Tegan lives in
Vancouver and contributes more of the
albums punkier songs. “Hop A Plane” in
particular is straight-ahead, loud guitar,
screaming lyrics song that I can’t wait
to experience in a live setting. Tegan
recently spent some nights DJing at
Sonar and that experience, along with
being the opening act for The Killers on

lyrics I have
ever heard.”

quicker when they’re
lying, and the chorus is
done in a pretending-
to-cry voice.

The album comes
in a regular edition and
special edition that includes a behind the
scenes DVD. Unless you just can’t get
enough of the twin’s cuteness, you save
yourself the four dollars and pass on the
special edition. Most of it is just them
talking about the album, but the editing
was done so that they don’t spend
more than 10 seconds on any particular
thought. This gets annoying really fast,
and the DVD goes on for nearly an hour
like this. There are a few laugh-out-loud
moments, and Sara getting duct tape
stuck in her hair is worth watching a
few times.

Tegan and Sara are playing two
shows at the Commodore Ballroom on
September 22. Their live act is fantastic
and usually funnier than any DVD, even
without any duct tape.