The Like – Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking Review


Link: The Like

The Inside Pulse:
The band (made up of three now 20-ish females blessed with good genes and connected parents) draws from a nice pool of female-led indie bands from the Throwing Muses to the Sundays. The execution is just fine. The band sounds like it put time into rehearsals and songwriting rather than just letting the daddies pick songs and producers to make The Like sound like a real band. And the songs are smart and angsty enough without spilling out into the confessional/brat territory of some peers.

The problem is (and this is far from fatal) that when you put the Sundays and Throwing Muses together, what you end up with is a very sweet confection that really doesn’t sound hard to pull off. It’s good enough, but not yet powerful enough to make anyone but the 14-year-olds and Humbert Humberts care. And let’s face it: that crowd was on board as soon as they said “hello, we’re the Like.”

Positives:
– Put this in your personal “band to watch” folder. The Like seems to have what they need to find a sound that will work for them.
– The very likeable songs don’t sacrifice an ounce of credibility which is a neat little trick.
– The band can play and I would totally take my 14-year-old nephew to see a show if this isn’t a little too girly for him.

Negatives:
– The band members are young, and that shows in a couple ways: the influences are close to the surface and the range of emotion is limited. They haven’t grown beyond their heroes and they have no real scars to show.
– The audience for this is limited to those who don’t feel a hint of shame in blasting the Sundays in any way outide of ironic or reminiscent.

Cross-breed:
The Throwing Muses with the Sundays

Reason to buy:
You need a hip gift for the 14-year-old girl in your life or the day-dreamy/confused waif in you.