The Lemon Twigs
Everything Harmony
CAPTURED TRACKS
Taking their pop synth-phonic, blue-eyed robo-soul cues from Todd Rundgren’s A Wizard, a True Star as their baseline, the brothers D’Addario—Brian and Michael—have moved the needle from the hammy, theatrical rock-outs of their past (2018's Go to School, 2020's Songs for the General Public) to something more earnest and plainly emotional with The Lemon Twigs’ newest album, Everything Harmony.
By “plain” I don’t mean flat, thankfully, as the reverberating sadness of “What Happens to a Heart” and the sunshiny melancholia of “In My Head”—both with their threadbare melodies and aching, plainspoken lyricism—make for a welcome relaxation of the Twigs’ more grandiose agenda (mind you, as far as maximal everything goes, the D’Addarios make it work to their advantage). Advertising their gorgeous display of harmonic unity before the first note rings out, the folksy pocket orchestra of opener “When Winter Comes Around” and the tearily SoCal-barbershop arrangements of closer “New to Me” are symmetrically co-joined and vocal-soaked, yet in a humbler manner (think acoustic Everlys, or Ian & Sylvia) than the born-to-be-Badfinger duo usually handle.
This doesn’t mean that The Lemon Twigs have lost their ’70s power-pop radio mojo for Everything Harmony, as tracks such as the jingly “Ghost Run Free” and the falsetto-heavy “Any Time of Day” would sound at home on the AM frequency. They may have just needed to dial it down a notch.
