When Canadian alt-pop sisters Tegan and Sara [ tickets ] Quin were working on coming up with names for their next record, they spent a lot of time just talking about what the collection meant to them.

The twins, who perform under the name Tegan and Sara, also took into consideration what they were thinking while they were writing. To encapsulate those feelings, the duo came up with "The Con."

"I felt like a theme for the whole record, for me, was this idea that there's this duality to our existence," Tegan Quin said during an interview with LiveDaily via telephone from her Vancouver, British Columbia, home. "There's all the stuff that happens inside of us and all the stuff that happens outside. That's the quick summary. It's a bit of a con--not necessarily conning other people, but conning ourselves."

"The Con," which is Tegan and Sara's fifth studio album, was released last July. The set features guest appearances by a number of artists, including Death Cab for Cutie's Jason McGerr, The Rentals' Matt Sharp and AFI's Hunter Burgan. The album briefly found a home in the Top 50 of The Billboard 200 chart. Charting is something to which Tegan plays very little attention.

"We spend very little time focusing on those elements of our career, just because we've always kept our focus on making great music and touring and coming up with fun and entertaining ways to keep ourselves excited and passionate about what we do," Quin said. "Certainly with this record, like every record, we've always seen a big jump in record sales and popularity, or quality of reviews or quality of writing around our bands. It's all very exciting, absolutely."

"The Con" is the follow-up to 2004's "So Jealous," which landed on Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records of the Year list. Quin explained that she and her sister approached this album differently than records of the past.

"We always approach [new albums] independent of everything and everyone," Quin said. "It's very much about what is inspiring us at home. I'll get a song from Sara, she'll e-mail me a song, and I'll start listening to that. That'll inspire me and I'll continue writing. We kind of just start putting songs together. That seems to excite us enough."

Hiring new producers and collaborators adds excitement as well, she added. In terms of their career in general, they're always keeping things fresh by touring new places or trying out new venues, Quin explained. Choosing new causes for which to raise money and releasing new merchandise also maintains the thrill.

"It's never a dull day," Quin said with a laugh. "I always joke that when I get home from touring, everybody's like, 'You must be so excited to be off for two months and have a holiday.' I'm like, 'Yeah, it's kind of like a holiday but I'm about to spend two months working.' There's so many other elements to what we do. Those are some of my favorite elements, the merchandise and the writing and all that stuff."

She is especially looking forward to her and her sister's US spring tour.

"I think it's going to be great," Quin said. "We always make a big deal about picking venues that we think will provide a good show for the audience. It's generally not about money. If that were the case, we'd be playing shitty clubs across the country. It's way cheaper to bring a show in there. We generally pick a venue we think will be pleasant and enjoyable for the audience. We play a pretty long show, sometimes an hour and forty-five minutes--the whole new record and some material from the last and [other] records. It's exciting."