As I sit here listening to and writing about this intriguing new band from Long Island, New York, The Lemon Twigs, I’m not really sure how to describe what I hear.
Others in my position have used words like pop/rock, soft rock, baroque rock, melodic, harmony-rich, underground cool, theatrical, lo-fi, lush, modern-day, retro-leaning, divine, startlingly sophisticated, ornate and complex, and they’ve referenced The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, and The 5th Dimension.
When he first heard The Lemon Twigs, NPR’s Bob Boilen felt like he was listening to “music from a time that never was.”
To all those words I think I’d add more words, like epic, bold, adventurous, ’70s-TV-theme, weird, indulgent, brilliant, and precocious, and I’d also reference Queen and silent movies.
And even with all those words, I don’t feel like we’re any closer to knowing what The Lemon Twigs sound like.
So, the thing is, you need to listen to The Lemon Twigs.
Start with These Words, one of two songs released ahead of their debut CD, Do Hollywood. Brothers Brian (guitar, keys, vocals, drums, horns, strings) and Michael D’Addario (guitar, keys, vocals, drums) wrote it when they were 17 and 15, respectively. Recording as a duo in Los Angeles before either of the brothers had vacated his teens, Brian and Michael laid down all the basic tracks in two weeks, with Foxygen’s Jonathon Rado producing, before they hunkered down for six months to attend to rest of the details.
These brothers, these Lemon Twigs, learned a great deal about how to write and perform this music from their dad, Ronnie D’Addario, who played everything and produced a few Badfinger-meets-The Beach Boys records in the late-’70s.
Their debut LP, Do Hollywood, was released earlier this month:
So now you’ve read a whole bunch of words about The Lemon Twigs, but the thing is you need to listen to them. Now would be a good time to do that.
