The Mighty Quin twins (known to their growing legions of fans as Tegan and Sara) are back with another song cycle of their uniquely skewed, energetic folk/pop. For those unfamiliar, Tegan and her identical twin sister Sara hail from Canada where they enjoy a celebrity that far eclipses the "college radio darling/poised to break big" status that has been hard won down here in the 48 adjacent.

The sisters are open about being lesbian and their lyrics often revolve around defending their nature as well as the hardships that come with maintaining love relationships amid the insanity of their constant touring, recording and writing. Both write in equal measure and sing lead on the songs they pen. To the untrained ear distinguishing between the two is hopeless, but with both singing harmony as frequently as they do it doesn't matter much.

Tegan and Sara play a brand of largely up-tempo indie pop rock influenced by the new wave bands of the late 70s and early 80s from the most popular The Cars, to the most obscure Gruppo Sportivo. The Con finds the twins veering toward a more contemporary sound akin to The Shins, The Decembrists, and Death Cab for Cutie. Which is certainly no surprise as the album was produced by Death Cab's Chris Walla (Who's also produced the Decembrists) and Ben Sharp of Weezer and the Rentals.

Tegan and Sara made their most indelible Mark with the song "Walking With a Ghost." The song was covered by The White Stripes and became the title of the EP they released between their last two albums. The song bears an undeniable likeness to Missing Persons' "Walking in LA" and the Quins also sound a good bit like MP frontwoman and former Zappa vocalist Dale Bozzio.

Fans of Tegan and Sarah tend to be the sort of devotees that worship Ani DiFranco, and to these The Con will fall like Mannah from heaven, as for me, I'd consider it their strongest release so far. Unfortunately it doesn't have an obvious single, so I'd be surprised if this is the record yields a song that brings them a new breed of top 40 fans. The album is also a bit odd in that it has two distinct halves. The first half is characterized by their trademark toe-tappers, while the second half slows into far more plaintive songs, with arrangements that are obviously brought on board by their producers. I didn't have a problem with the change up in styles, it just seemed like it would have been a much better idea to have mixed them up, instead of having an album that literally shifts into low gear half way through and stays there.