Boys Like Girls Boys Like Girls (2006) Red Ink / Columbia

What were to happen if you were to mix typical teenage lyrics about love, heartache and "breaking free" with catchy pop-hooks, melodies and a cliché album-ending power ballad? You get Boston locals Boys Like Girls' debut album called (rightfully so) Boys Like Girls, because after all, the album is about boys liking girls. It seems that Boys Like Girls have combined the perfect formula of writing catchy songs with memorable hooks, orchestrate it into an album and become the next big thing to hit the charts.

While it seems like the album is following in the footsteps of contemporaries, it has that certain edge over the rest that makes it stand out from the rest. The guitar work and drumming give the album a punk rock feel, but Martin Johnson's high-pitched singing over-ride these tendencies; however, it formulates into a very promising album for this up-and-coming quartet.

The album begins with "The Great Escape," which could be described as the ultimate song of teenage angst, with themes of escaping and starting over again run rampant throughout. Lyrics like "Watch it burn / Let it die / 'cause we are finally free tonight" make it seem that the song and those to follow are pulled out of a teenage diary. While this may be the case, the album does deliver.

The majority of the album's lyrics concern itself with situations of love, heartbreak, loss and starting over again and is evident in songs like the lead single "Hero/Heroine," the sing-along "Thunder" and the ever-so-dramatic "Up Against the Wall." The highlight of the album comes in right at the very end as Johnson's voice is echoed in the album's ballad "Holiday," repeating the hook of "The Great Escape" ("All the wasted time / The hours that were left behind / All the answers that we'll never find...").

It's pretty obvious that this album won't scratch everyone's musical itch, but to those that who do enjoy it will definitely get their money's worth out of it. For fans of the All-American Rejects, Cartel and the Academy Is....

(Marcel)