Montreal Mirror - September 5th
Lorraine Carpenter

Tegan and Sara - If It Was You (Superclose/Universal)
These prairie-born, B.C.-dwelling twin sisters make a brave about-face on this sophomore disc, shedding their sparse, furrowed-brow folk for a broader pop-rock approach. The major label brain-rinse, a "Presto, mainstream!" producer plus plain old creative laziness could have spelled disaster, but the majority of songs are strong and accessible, the producers are New Pornographers alumni, and the roots remain, as on the bluegrass-styled "Living Room" and the acoustic come-on "And Darling." Most importantly, there's no sickly modern pop sheen, letting the sisters rock out, harmonize and '80s-it-up, when they want to, in good taste. 8/10