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The songs on the album complement each other, play off the other's strengths, and make the record very much an entity, instead of simply a collection of tracks, setting it off as an impressive step forward in their already commendable discography.
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The Con skillfully packs its instant hooks in so tight, virtually every line becomes the one you want to sing along to--and the twins' lyrics aren't your typical pop pabulum.
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The Con a welcome addition to summer playlists and to Tegan & Sara's promising catalog.
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BlenderThey might sound like Girl Scouts, but these are tough cookies. [Aug 2007, p.117]
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It's a dark, personal record that holds big promises for the future.
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The real credit, however, goes to the songwriting of the eponymous duo. This album was not "saved in the production," as it were. The Con is a document written in the half-frenzy of a clusterfuck.
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A collection of angsty, catchy pop that's also ideal for scoring the antics of young doctors in heat.
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The Con is a startlingly dark, yet characteristically vibrant offering, featuring a band that’s learned to harness the energy-highs, while tempering pretty (even pastoral) pop-folk with a new, deeply-affecting brand of melancholy.
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MojoThe Con rockets beyond even their own high standards. [Mar 2008, p.103]
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A saddening case of brick production, paper soul--here the Quins are little more than twin airbags.
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The latest electro-folk offering from these Canadian twins is somehow cuter, catchier, and more heartache-y than their last disc.
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Better than anything they've done to date.
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The record's most interesting bits--a keen sense of melody--disappear too quickly and can't carry the album over its production bumps.
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In general, the songs are indeed kept simple. The album is not absent of synths and effects, but it never relies on mere production alone. The excitement of The Con comes, instead of from loops and distortion, from earnest emotion and the versatile voices of the Quin sisters.
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The Con is a mostly mature collection of solid songs.
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Q MagazineTheir fifth album is another step up the ladder. [Apr 2008, p.117]
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Their keyboard-heavy, New Wave-ish music is also uncommonly catchy.
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Slant MagazineThe Con is undoubtedly as sweet as it is short.
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SpinThw Quin twins' new-wave pop hooks are stroonger than ever. [Aug 2007, p.109]
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Their vocals throughout the entire album are fantastic and they work together only like sisters could, even if they live across one of the largest countries in the world.
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The pared-down moments of The Con seem to long for the clusterfuckedness of the album’s meatier tracks, and for the most part, rightly so.
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Lyrical wallowing is almost a required element for this genre, and ultimately even The Con's failings work in its favor, providing a macro version of what the best Tegan And Sara songs do, by stumbling along recklessly, then falling together.
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Somehow The Con is even more obsessive sounding than Tegan and Sara’s earlier work, and it’s probably even better; it could well be one of the year’s best albums.
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UncutCanada's Quin twins fairly blaze through The Con's 14 compact, supercharged tracks. [Oct 2007, p.109]
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Under The RadarThe Con, despite its title, is honest music. [Summer 2007, p.77]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 87 out of 96
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Mixed: 5 out of 96
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Negative: 4 out of 96
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EmDAug 6, 2007
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KCJul 29, 2007
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JimMDec 11, 2007