Though they passed themselves offas heartbroken victims, Tegan and Sara were the real villains on their 2007album, The Con, charming their way into relationships with feigned, flirtatiousquirk, then trapping their prey in a web of guilt and emotional manipulation.The Con was about the malicious things we do when we have the upper hand inrelationships, but the roles are reversed on Tegan and Sara’s follow-up,Sainthood, where the Quinn sisters find themselves taking the shots instead ofcalling them. Here they beg and bend over backward to please their partners,only to feel ashamed of themselves even when they succeed.
It’s a lose-lose situation. “It’sbeen so long since you said, ‘Well I know what I want and what I want’s righthere with you,’” Tegan laments with typical, nervous wordiness on “The Ocean.” Tegan and Sara'srelationships may not be worth saving, but the alternativeimagining their partnerswith someone elseis too much to bear. “I don’t want to know that you don’twant me, I don’t want to know what you do without me,” the sisters quiverfearfully on “Someday.”
The Con’s caramelized New Wave hooks have been toned down on Sainthood, swappedfor anxious, twitchy guitar riffs and ticking electronics that suggest looming doom.Sainthood isn't nearly the decadent, all-you-can-eat pop buffet its predecessor was, then, but therawer sound emphasizes the ulcerous urgency behind these songsanother sharpset from twin songwriters nearly unrivaled in their brutal understanding of relationship power dynamics.
