Lemon Twigs - Songs for The General Public
Although the two are clearly blessed with an abundance of talent, perhaps they should turn their attention to originality in a world where it is slim on the ground.
They say flattery is a form of respect. Parody, even – which is precisely what Do Hollywood, Lemon Twig’s 2016 debut was. That gloriously unconstrained album was both a commercial and critical success. Lemon Twigs’ Michael and Brian D’Addario, 17 and 19 respectively at the time, were applauded for creating a homage to psychedelic acts from the 1970s like Todd Rundgren. The band’s youthful flamboyance shot them to fame in the midst of the revivalism revolution – when it was in vogue to mimic the greats of a bygone era.
For many, the first half of the last decade is seen as a golden era for contemporary music. Kids who yearned for a repeat of the Beatles and the Stones were appeased. The older generation, who had complained that “modern music’s not as good as when we were growing up”, were appeased too.
Standout albums from that time, such as Tame Impala’s Lonerism (2012) or Ty Segall’s Manipulator (2014), were successful because they sounded like forgotten gems from the 1970s, yet the artist’s own voice still cut through. For a few bands, however, this worshipping strayed a little close to the mark. There are some who haven’t been able to find success because they were over reliant on copying the sound of their predecessors. Certain bands have perhaps not given much thought to who they are as artists and are now floundering as a result. There’s only so much of the good stuff you can mine, before you’re producing material which even Brian Wilson at his most intoxicated would have refused.
Which is why you now have albums like Songs for the General Public. On their latest release, the much feted D’Addario prodigies have created a collection of songs which wouldn’t quite have made the cut fifty years ago. The two brother’s skills as musicians are well illustrated as they reel off tunes which all highlight the pair’s knack for evoking the sounds of the past, but there is a certain lack of imagination here.
The album opens with ‘Hell On Wheels’, a track where Michael impersonates Jagger in the first half before aping Dylan’s offbeat delivery in the latter. There are some pearls, like single ‘The One’, but even here the real highlight is a ripsnorter of reverb-drenched guitar solo which is straight from the Thin Lizzy playbook. Although the two are clearly blessed with an abundance of talent, perhaps they should turn their attention to originality in a world where it is slim on the ground.
5/10
