Tegan and Sara are going big for the tenth anniversary of their landmark album, The Con. For one, they are touring the album with acoustic rearrangements of the songs, hitting up venues across North America this fall. In addition, they have announced an album of covers of each song from the 2007 record, featuring a bevy of noteworthy artists, including Grimes, Ryan Adams, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, and Bleachers, titled The Con X: Covers.
The covers album is sequenced in the same order as original release of The Con, which means it will end with Tegan Quin’s reflective heartbreaker “Call If Off,” covered with reverence by the boisterous Scottish synth-pop trio Chvrches. It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Chvrches, who’ve been relatively quiet since wrapping their touring for their 2015 sophomore album, Every Open Eye.
On the cover, Chvrches stay true to the solemn nature of the song, taking a slow song and making it even slower. It’s a drastic turn for a band known more for their bangers, with “Call It Off” sounding almost ambient in their hands. So much of the original “Call It Off” is sold by Tegan’s vulnerable vocals, but Chvrches finds something else in the song to latch onto. As interpreted by Chvrches, “Call It Off” is meditative and lonely, hitting on the spirit of the lyrics while crafting a cover song that stands on its own.
Listen to Chvrches cover Tegan and Sara’s “Call It Off” above, and look for the complete collection of The Con X: Covers on October 20th.
