The Lemon Twigs: "This record kind of comes at you and either hits you positively or negatively"

The Lemon Twigs
(Image credit: Michael Hili)

It's not exactly common that a relatively straightforward pop-rock album would be a shock to the system for any pop-rock band’s fanbase. But then again, The Lemon Twigs are anything but straightforward. In a storied six years, the Long Island‑native duo, comprised of emphatic and eccentric brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario, have made quite a name for themselves as wickedly experimental and obsessively ambitious, whose retro-flavoured concept albums (like 2018’s Go To School) simply need to be heard to be believed.

Songs For The General Public is their third album, and although it did end up straying a good slick to the left of your standard Top 40 fare, it started off conceptually as just that: an album Brian or Mike could hand any regular fan of pop or rock (albeit hopefully one with a soft spot for the old-school psychedelic era of such) and immediately convert them to the cult of the Twigs. And it is an easily approachable album, in all the best ways one could be – catchy, fun, stimulating – without ever veering into mundane territory. 

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Ellie Robinson
Editor-at-Large, Australian Guitar Magazine

Ellie Robinson is an Australian writer, editor and dog enthusiast with a keen ear for pop-rock and a keen tongue for actual Pop Rocks. Her bylines include music rag staples like NME, BLUNT, Mixdown and, of course, Australian Guitar (where she also serves as Editor-at-Large), but also less expected fare like TV Soap and Snowboarding Australia. Her go-to guitar is a Fender Player Tele, which, controversially, she only picked up after she'd joined the team at Australian Guitar. Before then, Ellie was a keyboardist – thankfully, the AG crew helped her see the light…