The Con Demos

Their acclaimed 2007 album The Con was a departure point for Tegan and Sara. Before that, the identical twin sisters were known for their indie-folk and acoustic punk songs. But The Con found them playing more electric guitars and employing the bass skills of Weezer’s Matt Sharp, along with Kaki King on lap steel and Death Cab drummer Jason McGerr. Though this plugging-in didn’t garner real backlash from fans, Tegan and Sara have now dug into their demo vault to unearth stripped-down versions of songs from The Con, sequenced in the same order as the original album. “I Was Married” opens with minimal accompaniment, letting the sisters’ airtight blood harmonies take center stage. “Relief Next to Me” follows with a similar intimacy that gives listeners a fly-on-the-wall perspective of what it might be like to eavesdrop on Tegan and Sara’s home recordings. In its bare-bones form, the title track plays with a rawness in emotional intensity that gets a little buried in the finished recording.