You've got to have respect for a band that does nothing but get better from record to record.
The Like Young is one of these groups, and their third album,
Last Secrets, ups the drama, energy, and excitement that was already at a high level on their last album,
So Serious. Guitarist/vocalist
Joe Ziemba and drummer/vocalist
Amanda Ziemba both play and sing like their lives depended on each note, and the fervor sweeps the listener along for a wild punky pop ride. The duo's songs have grown more adult, scaling back on the easy anger displayed on their debut and moving into deeper areas of resignation and disgust with modern life and the toll it takes on its practioners. Songs like the churning "Spell It Out," "Dead Eyes," and the scathing "For Money or Love" are not the work of happy campers and there is a sick and weary feel to the music. Certainly anyone looking for the sweet ballads the two offered in their days as indie cuties in
Wolfie will have to be satisfied by the cooing harmonies and occasional leads of the always angelic
Amanda. Not to say that there aren't great melodies and hooks throughout the record; that knack has never forsaken the duo, as "Cold Cold," "Writhe Like You Mean It," and "Hard Stress, Soft Skin" demonstrate quite ably. The only complaint with the album is that all the angst and gloom can get pretty heavy at times, but if you are in the right mood,
Last Secrets can play like the soundtrack to a broken dream.