Are you into
T&S?

You say you haven't heard Tegan and Sara's new CD yet? Ex-squeeze me?

The fact that T&S are Canadian lesbian identical twin sisters who look like Kiki Dee is beside the point. The Con simply rocks--it's one of the best albums of the year.

You think they couldn't top the pop perfection of 2004's So Jealous? The album with "Walking With a Ghost" and "You Wouldn't Like Me"? Well, you've been served.

The Con kicks off with "I Was Married," and you think, This is the poem I want to read my husband/wife/partner on his/her/their's deathbed. It's fudgin' gorgeous.

Like the girls themselves, all 14 songs are utterly strange and beautiful. You try to wrap your head around lines like "That thunder moves / Like damn drawers slamming in my frame / Slamming in my framework" on "Relief Next to Me"; or "I'm taken, I am yours / I'm up and doing circles / I collapse" in "Are You Ten Years Ago?" Only Bjork has better song titles.

What do the songs sound like? It's all over the place, in the best way. Guitar-crunching rap on "Hop a Plane." Upbeat melancholy a la Tori Amos on "Burn Your Life Down." "Dark Come Soon" sounds like it could have come out of the speakers of your mom's station wagon, like a song that stays with you for two decades.

For those new to T&S (Where have you been? This is their fifth album!), you may be worried their stuff is way too esoteric for you. Wrong! All the songs are completely accessible--the title track will get you pounding your fist and screaming "Nobody! Nobody! Nobody! Nobody! Nobody!"; and "Back in Your Head" will be stuck in your head for weeks, but not in the Fergie way.

So, get thee to Amazon.com, ASAP. I have not been paid by Sire Records. I'm just way into T&S.