And further down the rabbit hole I go, taking my obsession
with Tegan and Sara into new territories, and yes, that includes locating the
Record Store Day exclusive Closer
remix album on Ebay for a reasonable price (some were priced without consulting
what fans were actually willing to pay) and, in the process, coming across a
limited edition release for the demos to 2007’s The Con in a cardboard package released during some dates of the
supporting tour.
Buy It Now Price? Too high to mention.
Which is when an MP3 version of the same package was noticed
on a major retail site with a price point of below ten bones, which is much
more reasonable given the disposable package of the physical version.
Personal obsessions and fandom aside, the real reason for my
interest resides in the emotive power that Tegan and Sara created for The Con’s proper release. It’s an album
where the dark themes are wonderfully painted with bright pop elements, giving
the impression that the sisters were willing to counteract the lows of the
subject matter with a very unique and vibrant blend of pop music
.
In short, The Con
reveals much more on the surface than its pop overtones suggest, a trend that
continues to this day.
But here on the The
Con Demos came an opportunity to hear exactly how dark things were before
Chris Walla got behind the boards to help sugarcoat the proceedings.
At least, that’s what I expected with the rough mixes, so
imagine my surprise when I found out that Tegan and Sara were very much in
control of the forays into pop and that what Walla ended up delivering is not
too far away from the sister’s original intent.
Sure, The Con Demos
are rougher, there’s lots of that dry distortion that artists end up with when
plugging their instruments directly into the recording unit, and much of the
content is built on the sister’s history with the acoustic guitar.
“Call It Off” and “Dark Come Soon” benefit from this bare
bones treatment, while a few songs feature a bit more decorations, twisting the
familiar songs with a new palate all together.
“Knife Going In” features a distinctive oriental blend
against the acoustic backdrop and “Back
In Your Head” takes on a completely new feel with the basic track accentuated
with a mournful tack piano.
Revelatory? In some places, yes. Is it worth your additional
attention? Depends. If you’re like me and this
record has proven to be both a reliable companion as well as a
surprising contender for one of the best records to be released during the
Oughts, then the creative process as documented in The Con Demos will be nearly as essential as the finished results.
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