Sainthood

After being so impressed with their previous album, The Con, I was quick to purchase Tegan and Sara's follow-up, Sainthood, and it's just as good. The baker's dozen album of songs, none of which are much over three minutes in length, are compellingly up-tempo and peppy, but as with The Con appearances may be deceiving.

The collection kicks off with "Arrow," and many of the songs feel as if they are flying at high speed. The ironically-titled "Don't Rush" moves forward as if it's rolling downhill, and "Northshore" is even faster. But the lyrics, upon close inspection, contain some of the darker elements that were prevalent on The Con.

"Northshore" is a good example, with the refrain "My misery's so addictive," or the first line of "Night Watch"--"I've got grounds for divorce." Or "The Cure": "All I said to you, all I did for you seems silly to me now." It seems that neither Tegan or Sara, who write most of their songs separately, have a lot of good to say about relationships. Lyrically their songs also display a lot of verbal circularity, such as "And so now you know you know it now," or "I don't want to know that you don't want me."

I'm not enough of a fan of theirs to know how to tell them apart. One of their voices has a cartoon-mouse-ish helium-inflected sound, with the rounded vowels of a Canadian, while the other sister has a deeper, mellower voice, that at certain times, especially on the closing track "Someday" can sound like Alanis Morrisette.

Musically these songs are catchy, danceable and filled with candy-coated keyboard sounds. Beyond the terrific hooks, though, are some intriguing, if devilishly circumspect, ideas. It's a fine record.