Unconditional love is something only offered to men by moms and dogs.

Other creatures, women especially, can only be counted on for conditional love -- they'll love us on the condition that we at least make an attempt to hide what kind of scumbags we really are.

For the most part we do. Try, that is.

Jesse Lacey, from the Long Island rock quartet Brand New, makes no such pretense on the band's stunning sophomore CD, Deja Entendu.

He allows himself to write and utter a line like "I am heaven sent, don't you dare forget" or "I got desperate desires and unadmirable plans" as if he's almost taunting you to fall for him.

"When you hear something nasty or something egotistical, it's just me trying to be honest, because that's the way I think, that's the way a lot of people think a lot of the time," Lacey says from the road. "If you're honest with yourself, people are going to respect it and relate to it."

The honesty Lacey and his mates display, and how well they put it to music, is what makes it one of the year's best.

It climaxes to perfection on the album's highlight, Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't, which contains the "heaven sent" line as well as what is hopefully a peek into the future: "I hope this song starts a craze/The kind of song that ignites the airwaves/The kind of song that makes people glad to be where they are with whoever they're there with."

The track tackles the ego he noticed afflicting some of his friends and fellow musicians, but, tellingly, it's also sung in first person.

"You start bands up and you hit this certain level of fame, and a lot of people can't deal with that and they change," Lacey says. "I was halfway dealing with my frustration with that. The other half was dealing with my own narcissism.

"I would never point a finger at someone else without also turning it on myself."

Showing both sides is a predominant theme on the record -- from the man as victim in Sic Transit Gloria ... Glory Fades to the man as predator in Me Vs. Maradona Vs. Elvis -- and one of the things that helps Brand New, like Jimmy Eat World, transcend the emo genre they've been lumped in since the release of their 2001 debut, Your Favorite Weapon.

"There's the whole -- I'm going to use the word -- 'emo' explosion thing, where it's just so cool to be hurt and so cool

to point a finger at someone and say,

'They did this to me, they did that to me,' " Lacey says.

"Kids relate to that and I understand that -- there's brilliant, brilliant great rock 'n' roll songs in history that are written about the pain you feel from suffering the loss of a relationship.

"But at the same time, I don't know anyone who hasn't done that to someone else."