Tegan & Sara preview

Tegan & Sara
Lakeshore Theater, Chicago
Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The angular haircuts. The high-pitched, nasal vocals and seamless harmonies. It must be twin singer-songwriting team Tegan & Sara.

The new millennium has been good to the Canadian natives. National late-night talk show television appearances, opening slots on tours with The Killers and Ryan Adams, and numerous placements on ABC’s chick-magnet behemoth, “Grey’s Anatomy,” helped the sisters carve out a fan base here and abroad. Even Jack White is a fan.

When we last saw the girls they, unfortunately, couldn’t handle the stifling Chicago heat, cutting their set at the inaugural Grant Park version of Lollapalooza short. This summer, the pair come charging out of the gate strong on their fifth album, The Con (Viper/Sire). Produced with the help of Death Cab For Cutie’s Christopher Walla, the album captures the unique chamber pop the sisters Quin seamlessly create.

While Tegan & Sara’s back catalog is an acquired taste, moments of subtle beauty and maturity waft through The Con. “Relief Next To Me” builds to an Avril Lavigne-like chorus, which sadly fails to pay off, but the path leading there is almost worth the journey. “I Was Married” has the dainty exuberance of a “Sesame Street” ditty, while “Call It Off” closes the out the 14-track album with a heavy dose of nostalgic longing, the in-waiting kind where the thing that causes these feelings hasn’t happened yet, set to an acoustic guitar.

The middle of the album gets mired down in songs that sound so similar, differentiating between them proves pointless and the coquettish vocals grate after awhile. But, with five albums under their belt, Tegan & Sara can now choose their set lists wisely and eradicate the filler.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly