Tegan and Sarah – So Jealous

What do you get when two twin sisters from Canada get together to make music? Pop perfection.

Tegan and Sarah have been a rising force on the indie scene since their conception as a band in 1998. With So Jealous, their third album on Neil Young’s Vapor Records, Tegan and Sarah craft their finest pop tunes yet. From the wonderfully catchy opener of “You Wouldn’t Like Me” to the slow closer “I Can’t Take It,” So Jealous soars.

Fusing Cars-esque New Wave with Ozma-esque power pop and a hint of folk, So Jealous has a very engaging sound. While some songs are a bit of a chore to get into, most are easily accessible. Album highlights “Take Me Anywhere” and “I Know I Know I Know” are so catchy that you can’t help but fall for them. The slower, synth-heavy title track is perfect as well.

The girls’ voices go very well with the music; both sound a bit like Gwen Stefani. Lyrically, Tegan and Sarah are almost as good as they are with melodies. Most songs are about relationships of some sort (both sisters are lesbians, but none of their songs are gender-specific), but they’re several cuts above cliché Ryan Cabrera-type break-up ditties.

So Jealous is one of the better albums of 2005 and proof that, if you didn’t think there were any good releases this summer, you just weren’t looking hard enough.

Nick Selm is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences