The Like Young "Last Secrets" (Polyvinyl)
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Thursday. Mar 09, 3:27 AM
A pleasant little jaunt through the vagaries of young love.

Into the already crowded realm of guy/girl two-piece post-punk bands enter The Like Young, a duo from Chicago comprised of husband-and-wife Joe (guitar, vocals) and Amanda (drums, vocals) Ziemba. While other acts with a similar lineup such as Jucifer and The Kills take this minimalist approach and create music that is often surprisingly unique and original, The Like Young seem much more derivative in their aesthetic, nodding first of all toward that crowned king and queen of post-punk duos, The White Stripes, while also channeling earlier punk-pop entities like The Pixies, Veruca Salt, and Letters To Cleo.

Derivations notwithstanding, The Like Young have released a decent record with Last Secrets, a youthful, angst-y, angry, and confused collection of brief but explosive songs that reflect the sentiments of a pair of lovers who are tormented by their surroundings, including at times one another. The record begins with a somber piano instrumental ominously titled “The Hell With This Whole Affair,” then explodes into the straight-ahead punk-pop of “For Money or Love,” a song that might be described as an introductory summary of the underlying themes of Last Secrets: “I hate your money… my skin’s crawling… you will be fired for money or love.”

As songwriters, Joe and Amanda have mastered the art of structure and overcome the struggle for a good melody; these songs are tightly arranged, blowing in and out without wasting one note or one breath, and the pair sing together as only young lovers can, each almost perfectly balancing and enhancing the other in tone and energy. Amanda is an especially good singer, with a voice that is enchanting if a bit haunting, while Joe can carry a tune but at times performs in a manner that sounds somewhat contrived. It is when the two sing together or harmonize that the Ziembas come close to a sound that is all their own, commingling the beautiful and the sublime in a sweet melody and a churning, growling rhythm.

Lyrically, Last Secrets is mired in the trappings of youth and self-obsession, thrashing out in a rather obscure manner various and sundry issues by which the couple seem to be flummoxed: love, lust, loss, passion, greed, and even cradle-robbing (a practice that obviously disgusts the Ziembas). Consider this line from “Some Closure,” a song that has something to do with getting over someone: “She acted like she knew nothing… so then I shut my mouth… some closure’s what I got… I’m getting dull.” Or this sample from “Writhe Like You Mean It”: “I’ve memorized where you live… I’d been tired from how you hid… my ears remained bright red from the last time.”

Such mundane, almost juvenile poetry comes across sounding much more interesting when Joe and Amanda start bashing out the music and singing the words, sometimes together, sometimes at each other. As a record, Last Secrets is a pleasant little jaunt through the vagaries of young love with a solid, well-engineered sound that may be familiar but not in a way that is annoying or insulting. As a band, The Like Young have documented their burgeoning potential, but for all their skill still have some growing up to do.
www.thelikeyoung.com
www.polyvinylrecords.com

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Jason Bronson

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