Online only: The Con Grade: B

Having achieved a modicum of mainstream fame and a little less indie cred with the release of their last record, So Jealous, Canadian twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin are back with The Con, an assured follow-up that, with the help of producer and Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, focuses more on the pair's talents as songwriters and hook-makers than on their hazy, lovelorn lyricism. \nTegan's Ric Ocasek-esque method of pop songcraft shines on tracks like "Hop a Plane" and the title cut, and reaches a rarely-achieved pop heaven on "Dark Come Soon," possibly the best track the duo has ever laid down. A few clunkers are scattered throughout these 14 tracks, all of them written by Sara. "Floorplan," "Back in Your Head" and the flat, tiresome "Relief Next to Me" are all compulsively skippable and showcase Sara's ability to coast on her own talents too breezily. \nIf Tegan is the more pop-sensible of the two, with most every note of her songs inching toward or sustaining some sort of hook or another, Sara is the tortured soul of the pair, always striving for a higher level of meaning in her songs and too often failing to find it. She redeems herself, though, with "Burn Your Life Down," a proper mini-soundtrack for anyone turning over a new leaf. \nWhile, with the notable exception of "Dark Come Soon," The Con never quite matches the highest highs of So Jealous, it's still a more than competent exercise in power pop that's no mere guilty pleasure. The only truly damning criticism I can bring myself to hurl at the Quin twins is that they might consider penning something other than a yearning love song for their next LP.