Parkin again and mixed at Metropolis Studios in Melbourne; Parkin also provided guitar, slide guitar and percussion; Stacey supplied drums. Anton S Trees of FasterLouder felt it provided "Haunting melodies and dreamy soundscapes. Two lead singers (one female, one male). Warm, jazzy keys and chilled-out drumbeats." In Music and Medias Christie Eliezer cited Cream magazine's reviewer, "If Perth is the new Paris, then the Hampdens are the new Air". Eliezer added that their EP included "references of writers, photographers, washed-up moguls, and falling ASX stock tickers atop crumbling concrete skyscrapers." Their third EP, So Young It Hurts, had six tracks and was released in August 2005 on Rubber Records. It was mixed and recorded by United Kingdom producer Eden, who had worked as side-kick for Nellee Hooper (Madonna). The EP reached No. 16 on the ARIA Hitseekers Singles Chart. By that time the group were based in Melbourne and had trimmed down to a three-piece: Crawcour, Jules Hewitt and Legge. They supported National Youth Week in 2007, where their EP was described as "set against the sound of melodic electronica and haunting vocals." The band finished recording their debut album, The Last Party, in New York City. They enlisted the services of Victor Van Vugt (Beth Orton, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey) to produce the album, with fellow Melburnian, Matt Lovell (Silverchair, Eskimo Joe) as sound engineer. The album's lead single, "Generation Y", was released in July 2007, which peaked at No. 51 on the ARIA Singles Chart, No. 29 on the Top 100 Physical Singles Chart and No. 1 on the Hitseekers Singles Chart. Foster noticed that "The world Legge presents – partly with an eye on hitting the zeitgeist with song titles like ‘Generation Y' – is jaded, partied out and numb, with refuge found in dreams and sleep and the search for love." The song is about beauty and hope, about white Converse sneakers and beating hearts in dark clubs, about a new generation for whom Kurt Cobain is nostalgia and CK one is a cultural relic, about going back to the town you grew up in and burying your hands in the soil. "Generation Y" was co-written by the trio with Julian Hamilton of the Presets. In early 2008 the Hampdens filmed a music video for the album's second single, "Asleep on the Lawn", in Essendon West. The Last Party appeared on 17 May 2008 via