Ears Wide Open: The Like

Kevin Bronson on April 30th, 2010

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It’s going to be a lot easier to like the Like this time around. When the band emerged as teenage scene darlings in the early part of last decade, it was too much too fast – no matter how they tried (and from their occasional displays of diva-ism, it wasn’t very hard), they couldn’t shuck the notion that their music-industry lineage got them their record deal and the big-time producer that helped make 2005’s “Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?” Who knows whether perceptions have changed, but plenty of other things have. Bassist Charlotte Froom left the band (she’s now playing with Taylor Locke & the Roughs), and originals Z Berg (guitar/vocals) and Tennessee Thomas (drums/vocals) have been joined by bassist Laena Geronimo and keyboardist Annie Monroe. Gone, too, is the reheated Britpop of their debut (which always sounded to me like somebody just discovered Sleeper records), in favor of sharp, girl group-inspired rock ’n’ soul that plays to Berg’s strengths. The Like’s sophomore album “Release Me” – produced by Mark Ronson, among others – will be out June 15 on Downtown Records. And in the next month, L.A. fans will have ample opportunity to get funky with the foursome.

||| Stream: “Fair Game” and “He’s Not a Boy”