When I first heard The Lemon Twigs, I felt like I was listening to music from a time that never was. The sound made by these two teenaged brothers distills pop music from the 1960s through a 21st-century lens. Brian (19 years old) and Michael (17) D'Addario have a love of baroque rock, a sound made popular by The Beatles with their use of harpsichord in the song "In My Life," or The Zombies' "She's Not There" or lesser-known artists like Spanky and Our Gang or The Left Banke.
Consistent with The Lemon Twigs' throwback theme is this video for the group's new single "These Words," which casts these two characters as white-wig-wearing 18th-century tea sippers playing music in candlelit settings yet somehow mashed up in Los Angeles in 2016. There's a duel, some fencing and a freeway, and best of all, divine music with lots of rousing harmony and meticulous care wrapped in a twisted Beatle-ish pop tune. Brian D'Addario told me via email that the video, which was shot by Brook Linder, took place under an odd set of circumstances: "It was shot over two hot days in L.A., and thanks to a forest fire, we were able to get all the shots we needed. And what a forest fire it was! We had a late start that day, and didn't know if it'd be too bright to film that late in the day. And though the fire scorched the earth, it made for some great lighting."
The Lemon Twigs' debut album, Do Hollywood,is produced by another artist in love with mixing the past with the present, Foxygen's Jonathan Rado, who discovered the duo through Twitter. The album comes out October 14 on 4AD.
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