So Jealous

1	You Wouldn't Like Me
2	Take Me Anywhere
3	I Bet It Stung
4	I Know I Know I Know
5	Where Does The Good Go
6	Downtown
7	I Won't Be Left
8	Walking With A Ghost
9	So Jealous
10	Speak Slow
11	Wake Up Exhausted
12	We Didn't Do It
13	Fix You Up
14	I Can't Take It

Barnes & Noble

This spirited Canadian group boasts a pretty weighty trump card -- how many lesbian identical twins are making punk-pop albums these days? -- but the real draw here is the sisters' effervescent tunes and forthright 20-something confessionals. Tegan and Sara Quin's folky beginnings and openly gay attitude drew early, fair comparisons to Ani DiFranco, but while ideologically the duo share a point of view with indie-rockers like Sleater-Kinney, musically they're more bent on spunky rock spiked with edgy pop hooks -- Avril Lavigne for grad-schoolers or Joan Jett on a Frappucino rush. Like their last disc, the underappreciated If It Was You, So Jealous froths with spirited production from New Pornographers John Collins and David Carswell (alongside the Quins) and irresistible new wave touches, this time heightened by the buzzing keyboards of Matt Sharp (Weezer/Rentals). Thus, punchy heartbreakers like "You Wouldn't Like Me" -- which contains the priceless summation of girlish lack of confidence, "I feel like I wouldn't like me if I met me" -- and "Speak Slow" build to towering highs, boosted by the twins' interlocking harmonies, and would sound happy next to '80s new wave-power-pop like the Go-Go's and the Plimsouls. The Quins reveal their roots as acoustic folkies on the bedroom musings of "Downtown," but mostly Tegan and Sara bang their hollow-body six-strings in service to the jumped-up type of pop nugget that's become their stock-in-trade. These gals play their hands right, and they could find their names as familiar as those of Avril and Alanis. Lydia Vanderloo

All Music Guide

Tegan and Sara's third album, So Jealous, is by far their most ambitious and liveliest record, opening up their punk-folk sound with a heavy dose of new wave sensibility and pop hooks. They started moving in this direction on their previous album, but here they dive headfirst into slick, shiny surfaces, insistent synths, clean guitars, and bright, playful melodies that sound sunny even in minor keys. This musical revamp doesn't betray their nervy emotionalism. Instead, it focuses them, giving their music style and flair that focuses them while making the duo more accessible. And So Jealous is indeed the Tegan and Sara album that could play to a wider audience, but the group remains an acquired taste for one reason: their thin, squeaky voices and close harmonies can be grating to the uninitiated. Nevertheless, for those who have acquired that taste, So Jealous is the most satisfying album Tegan and Sara have yet made. Stephen Thomas Erlewine