This Chicago-based husband and wife duo has been making music together since 1997, and while I wouldn’t exactly call it beautiful, it’s considerably infectious.
So Serious, Amanda and Joe Ziemba’s second album as The Like Young, is an entertaining trip across the well-traveled terrain of catchy, light-hearted punk rock. The couple isn’t out to blow our minds with metaphors, musical textures or slow-building tearjerkers; they’re out to have fun and waste no time doing it (So Serious is a mere 24 minutes long). This energetic spirit soaks through the one minute and 14 seconds of “Out To Get Me,” where Joe’s chugging riffs and Amanda’s restless drumming give off that mysteriously enthralling feeling of a simple rock song done well.
So Serious contains nothing remotely original, blatantly copping Weezer and Elvis Costello, but there’s a certain charm in its lack of surprises. This is the kind of record that makes you happy when you’re drunk and unburdened – the guitars are loud, the melodies are snappy, the lyrics don’t matter and it’s over before the pizza shows up.
Appeared in the June 24, 2004, issue of Artvoice.