Being a lesbian singer-songwriter entails a certain amount of baggage (see: Melissa Etheridge). It’s also hard to be taken seriously if your musical act is comprised solely of siblings (thank you Brady’s – thank you Hanson bros.). So being Calgary-born lesbian twin sisters, you can bet that Tegan & Sara have put up with quite a shitstorm of abuse from obnoxious radio jockeys and other ignorant media types since their break through album, So Jealous. Different from the nearly perfect pop gems that broke them, The Con features a distinctly darker side of the duo. Familiar themes of lovers gained and lovers lost are tossed in with pointed accounts of transitions between childhood, pre-adolescence, and adulthood. Musically, The Con explores different territory. A conscious decision to get away from their acoustic sensibilities finds T&S crafting synth and guitar driven pop songs that, with the production of Chris Walla (of Death Cab For Cutie), take on a distinctly different feel while never straying too far from their instantly recognizable identical duel vocal melodies. Sure, The Con drops just in time to make the editing board of the upcoming season of The L Word, but T&S are so beyond being tied solely to the queer scene that has avidly supported them. Brimming with cynicism, The Con is unabashedly creative, and unapologetically honest. I’d be surprised to hear a better album this year.