Review of Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Album by The Like

The Like
Are you thinking what I'
m thinking?
Album Review

The Like Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Album

The cradle rocks above a musical abyss, and common sense tells us that a bands existence can be but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. - Summarizes perfectly what Vladimir Nobokov might have said about the fickle opinions of the music industry and its followers.

So what is so different about the debut offering from The Like? The all girl L.A vegetarian trio have a well documented musical heritage and terms such as 'young' and 'precocious' have been commonly regurgitated by the music media thus far. But the band are much more than that and this review is about to uncover it.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? - draws from a wide range of musical tastes and 19th/20th century literature which makes for an addictive recipe of intellect, intrigue and intensity. Feel good songs such as; You bring me down, Bridge to nowhere and Waves that never break instantly send you into day dreams of hot summer days and long moonlight nights - transporting you back to those American summer camp romances and shared milkshakes you never had.

Soothing indie-pop guitars and bass lines compliment the beat heavy drums throughout the album. This really strong combination is one which is only topped by the girls fashion sense and beauty, but is solidified with the outstanding vocals of singer Z Berg. Who shows the eloquence some lyrists only dream of emulating, with strong similarities lyrically and vocally with greats like; Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley and Nick drake to name a few. Her poetic lyrics with conscious thought only add vegetarian meat to the solid bone structure of the instrument arrangement.

This seemingly complete package makes for a very bright future. Which shines like a light house through the foggy waters of unconscious lyrics and one hit wonders. Whilst guiding other musical boats away from the sharp rocks of ignorance and shallow waters of substance.

It's actually quite hard to see how they have achieved this so soon in their careers, without being a hypocrite and using the word precocious. Extremely youthful looking 40 year olds is one possible theory on how these self taught musicians have created such a heart warming debut. But disregarding their obvious talent; heavy touring of the L.A club scene (whilst still at school) as well as self releasing three E.P's have played a key but esoteric part. In addition to which; touring with such bands as Maroon 5, Kings of Leon, Tori Amos, Dinosaur JR and Phoenix. A recent successful UK tour, shows at SXSW and imminent summer festival appearances are also just rewards for the hard work (not nepotism) that the girls have put into crafting their current position.

So the future is bright for The like and I am sure that they will evolve and grow as artists and as women, which will no doubt provide us with more fruitful albums in the coming years.

Hopefully this will be a sign to other bands to make more thoughtful music in the future, some how I don't think so. But albums like this will continue to quixotically help hammer in that final nail in the coffin.
8/10

Adam Adshead


Site - http://www.ilikethelike.com

Contactmusic