The Con (album)

''The Con'' is the fifth studio album by Canadian indie pop duo Tegan and Sara, released on July 24, 2007. The album charted at number 4 in Canada and at number 34 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the United States. Two singles were released from the album, "Back in Your Head" and "The Con", which both had music videos filmed for them.

Guest performers on the album include Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Sharp of The Rentals and formerly of Weezer (on Sara's songs), Hunter Burgan of AFI (on Tegan's songs) and Kaki King.

The title track was featured in rhythm video game '' Rock Band 3''.

Background

The album was written during a period of intense emotional turmoil for both Tegan and Sara. Sara was struggling with Canadian immigration to get her American-born girlfriend a working visa so they could live together, while Tegan was dealing with the breakup of a five-year relationship. The twins were also mourning the death of their grandmother who, according to Tegan, had been like a second mother to them. She stated that these factors combined to make ''The Con'' "very dark and also very much about reflecting on getting older, long-term relationships and the end of things". The songs Tegan wrote for ''The Con'' were heavily influenced by Against Me!'s album '' Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy''.

The DVD edition of the album reveals the title track "The Con" was tentatively titled "Encircle Me" and "Like O, Like H" was previously titled "SOS".

Release

In March 2007, the band announced the release of ''The Con'', along with the track listing and other information. ''The Con'' was released on July 24, 2007 on CD, vinyl and as a digital download. As announced on their MySpace blog, a special edition CD/DVD was released at the same time as the CD-only version. The CD/DVD release has a Parental Advisory warning for profanity on the DVD, although the CD contains no explicit content. The album debuted at number 4 in the Canadian Albums Chart. The album also debuted at number 34 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling about 19,000 copies in its first week. In its second week, the album fell out of the top 50, to No. 69, selling about 10,000 that week, totaling at 29,000. The album continued to chart that year until September, when it charted at number 192 before it fell out of the chart completely. In November, they released the '' I'll Take the Blame'' EP, which featured "Back in Your Head", a remix of that song, and two new songs, released on CD and as a digital download.

The first single from the album, "Back in Your Head", was released on CD and digital download in February 2008, and a music video was filmed for the song. Two weeks later, "The Con" was released as a single, also receiving a music video. A music video for "Call It Off" was also released on September 15, 2008. They also went on tour for the album, and for the United States portion of their world tour of this album, they have posted a series of videos called "Trailer Talk" on their MySpace profile.

Critical reception

''The Con'' received positive reviews from the media, scoring 80 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic. AllMusic gave the album four stars out of five, saying that "Though each sister writes and sings lead on seven tracks, it is Sara especially who writes the more intricate pieces ("Relief Next to Me," "Like O, Like H"), showing a more adult songwriter, one who has matured since her first work came out, while Tegan draws more from simpler emo and pop-punk arrangements ("Nineteen," "Hop a Plane"), her songs more straightforward, both compositionally and lyrically, than her sister's." Adding "But this isn't to say that there's a kind of disparity or harsh contrast on The Con." BBC
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