Canadian identical twin sisters Tegan and Sara return with their fifth full length album, ‘The Con’, which builds on their previous collections to become a duo who are a force to be reckoned with.

Produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, The Con has a raw style to it, with the duo’s vocal harmonies providing a quick, sharp punch. Technically, the tracks are raw and exposed – many of the songs see Sara lagging a fraction behind Tegan, giving a rather nice feeling of “we tried, but needed to say this instead of being in perfect harmony”. The whole 14 tracks are done in just 35 minutes – no filler, you get a sense that the girls are almost scared of silence, of not saying something of value.

The self-titled third track of the album is one of the rockiest of the album, even though it has some of the saddest, most self-loathing lyrics (“Nobody likes to, but I really like to cry”), and sets the theme for the rest of the album: sometimes raw, sometimes amusing, sometimes painful, but always truthful.

“Nineteen” tells the story of a one night stand gone wrong, and shows that the twins fondness of focussing on loneliness and breakup melodrama from previous albums remains, however with a more mature vibe than before. Almost all of the songs wallow in self-loathing, or analysing a break up; however, they manage to get away with it without sounding too much like a female Coldplay.

“Back in Your Head,” is one of the few love songs on the album, and has cheerful keyboard line, however offers something less than total assurance: “I just want back in your head/I’m not unfaithful but I’ll stray/ when I get a little scared.” This is one of the few stand-out tracks in the collection, which are all consistently strong but without obvious singles, or radio-friendly hooks. However, the sisters are hardly in need of this, thanks to a growing fanbase they’ve grown from hits off of “So Jealous”, and tour supports to the likes of The Killers, Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright and Weezer.

Penultimate track “Dark Come Soon” sees Tegan laid even more bare than normal. “[It] really feels like she’s stretched the boundaries of what she usually does, and felt like she got a little bit more vulnerable, which sounds strange ‘cause I think that she’s always had quite emotional lyrics,” commented Sara to Under The Radar magazine earlier this summer.

The final kiss-off comes in the shape of “Call it off”, a bittersweet goodbye song from Tegan to her ex – “Maybe I would have been something you’d be good at”. And with that Tegan and Sara finish their 35 minute confessional. We’ve had love, hate, hellos and goodbyes, and feel much closer to the twin sisters – what will they find to confess to next album?