To me, this is an album about cages, the future, and being human in it. The crazed vocals struggle to be clear in the thickness of noise the guitar and drums provide. Eeks, gurgles, and pure animal rage emerge in the singing, especially in tracks like “People.” These quirks, where the song sounds the opposite of its title, make Secret Life interesting. It is oxymorons, opposites, and question marks set to music. The clarity of the sound plays against the noise of the music. There is melody to be found even in the drudge. I can’t help but think that this record would be the output of the caged. It ranges from calm to hysteria, as evidenced in “Black Room.” And this is just the A-side. The B-side carries on the same themes, but at a faster pace with more emphasis on the instruments than the vocals. The songs that stood out the most were all on the b-side. “Bent Backwards” is stellar. It’s a spacey song. It’s the music people will be playing when we are confined to nontoxic environmental bubbles when the rest of earth is too poisonous to live on. Secret Life ain’t no soda fountain jukebox record. Unless the taps are filled with DDT and agent orange. Apocalyptic, dark, crazed music that still manages to amp you up and bob your head. A nighttime record. Posted: Sep 8, 2008