Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AbsolutePunk	(92%)
Allmusic
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Observer
Okayplayer	(83%)
Pitchfork Media	(6.6/10)
Rolling Stone
BBC	(favourable)

The Con is the fifth studio album by Canadian indie rock duo Tegan and Sara, released on July 24, 2007. The album charted at number 4 in Canada, going gold, and at number 34 in the Billboard 200. Two singles were released from the album, "Back in Your Head" and "The Con" which both had music videos filmed for them.

Guest performers on the album include Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Sharp of The Rentals and formerly of Weezer (on Sara's songs), Hunter Burgan of AFI (on Tegan's songs) and Kaki King.

The album was written during a period of intense emotional turmoil for both Tegan and Sara. Sara was struggling with Canadian immigration to get her American-born girlfriend a working visa so they could live together, while Tegan was dealing with the breakup of a five-year relationship. The twins were also mourning the death of their grandmother who, according to Tegan, had been like a second mother to them. She stated that these factors combined to make The Con "very dark and also very much about reflecting on getting older, long-term relationships and the end of things". The songs Tegan wrote for The Con were heavily influenced by Against Me!'s album Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy.

The DVD edition of the album reveals the title track "The Con" was tentatively titled "Encircle Me" and "Like O, Like H" was previously titled "SOS".

In March 2007, the band announced the release of The Con, along with the track listing and other information.The Con was released on July 24, 2007 on CD, vinyl and as a digital download. As announced on their MySpace blog, a special edition CD/DVD was released at the same time as the CD-only version. The CD/DVD release has a Parental Advisory warning for profanity on the DVD, although the CD contains no explicit content. The album debuted at number 4 in the Canadian Albums Chart. The album also debuted at number 34 on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling about 19,000 copies in its first week. On week 2, the album fell out of the top 50, at No. 69, selling about 10,000 that week, totaling at 29,000. The album continued to chart that year until September, when it charted at number 192 before it fell out of the chart completely. In November, they released the I'll Take the Blame EP, which featured "Back in Your Head", a remix of that song, and two new songs, released on CD and as a digital download.

...
Wikipedia