Some precaution should always be taken when naming a band. Calling your trio the Like easily sets up some limitations. Just "like"? Why not "love"? The Essentials? The Gonna Make You Groove Like Nothing You've Ever Heard?

Upon hearing the first beat of the drum and initial note of the bass from the Like's debut album, the resolution to the namesake question quickly clears up. It is not a far stretch to expect the first vocals to be lackadaisical utterances àla Julian Casablancas. It is not a far stretch to expect the subsequent, more power-pop oriented tracks to be moody tunes àla the Shout Out Louds' Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. Simply summarized, The Like's Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? falls in line with its fellow contemporary albums on the record store shelves.

This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, playing opening sets this past summer for emotive queen bee Tori Amos, currently warming stages for pleasures of the flesh Kings of Leon, and preparing to rock Europe guarantees the Like some deserved attention. On the other hand, the Geffen release quite possibly starts the countdown of the fifteen minutes it will take them — in the pleasant company of many notable post-punk rock revivalists — to ride out the rise and fall of fame. Although the Like can revel in easily satiating the current thirst for this vein of rock, at the same time the group cannot so easily revel in being the clear album of choice among the throngs of such similar rockers.

Drummer Tennessee Thomas provides some fierce, precise Meg White-esque assaults on the skins — especially demanding and dazzling during the haunting "Under the Paving Stones." Bassist Charlotte Froom brings some very subtle, very foundational Nikolai Fraiture-esque plucking of the strings — particularly awing and alluring in the energetic "The One."

These likenesses will not lead the listener to leave any record store with Are You Thinking in hand. Instead, it is the point of least likeness that will.

The White Stripes can take care of the same beats. The Strokes work those similar bass-lines. But neither can boast of the rich alto tones of front woman Elizabeth 'Z' Berg.

As with her instrumental counterparts, Berg's guitar riffs are both excellently executed and completely synonymous with a whole host of other exceptional musicians. Anyone could play those tunes, but almost no one could sing the lyrics heard above them. Not with the tone that is simultaneously emotive and slightly unaffected. Not with the suggestion of maturity deceiving the reality of youth.

From album opener "June Gloom," Berg offers herself not only as a poet with the pen, but a versifier with her voice. Over a strong, classic garage rock tune, Berg sounds nearly prophetic singing "Sunsets lost in skies of hazy grays / June gloom sets in, puts me in a daze / Nothing changes, all we do is wait / Our heads hanging, shaking in dismay/ 'Cause everyone's afraid."

Admittedly, the level of prophecy is not exactly revolutionary. The Like, after all is said and done, follows suit in theme as much as sound. Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? is another musical exploration of all the relationship woes to which a trio with the average age of twenty can attest.

And as it is hard to fault the ladies for abiding by the genre's rules of rock, they present the angst of affections just as powerfully and convincingly as anyone else.

At some previous place and time, every musical connoisseur has heard a variation on the lines, "Time stops, they're laughing / Everybody's seeming happy / I'll say it's too early to smile / Haven't done that in a while / 'Cause I can't see your face any longer / I can't be who you wanted me to be." Nowhere before has a listener heard the melancholy streamlined in lyrics and instruments as in "Bridge to Nowhere."

Similarly, the track "Too Late" delves into the "Never quite the effort maker / I see you're not nearly ready / I think I can do it on my own" side of liking. It becomes an album highlight with the juxtaposition of a searing, hard-hitting verse, which suddenly shifts to a near silent chorus, Berg's voice softening.

Throughout Are You Thinking, the strings and drums are consistent, strong enough to make the record a good bet in picking up. Album closer "Waves That Never Break" puts on display what makes the Like a sure thing in distinguishing itself from the crowds of cookie-cutter rockers. The drums settle down, the bass fades a bit, even Berg moves her guitar more to the wayside. All the listener is left with is a beautiful haunt of a voice.

It may not be an essential, it may not make you groove like nothing you've heard before. But the pairing of that conglomeration of garage, post-punk, pop-rock with the romantic voice makes it difficult not to like the Like.

Grade: B