The Lemon Twigs’ fifth album – ‘A Dream is All We Know’ – finds the brothers D’Addario celebrating the joy and beauty of dreams – while throwing all kinds of new instruments into their finely honed pop sound, including cellos, mandolin, trumpets, horns and harpsichord.
Recent single ‘My Golden Years’ opens the album and feels like something akin to Supertramp and The Byrds having a jamming session that ended with a relentless earworm – plus a touch of sadness and reflection: ‘Watch these golden years fly by’. ‘They Don’t Know How to Fall in Place’ is a song that demands handclaps with its breezy harmonies and gorgeous falsetto while ‘Church Bells’ celebrates romance and beauty in both people and places: ‘So many beautiful people but you’re the one I’m thinking of’.
‘Sweet Vibration”s piano-led intro talks about finidng miracles and being free amidst some perfectly pitched ‘la, la, la’s’, before ‘In the Eyes of the Girl bops along like something sweet made by The Beach Boys or Jersey Boys. This joy in life continues through to ‘How Can I Love Her More?’, a theremin-induced anthemic track that has the heartbreaking line: ‘She knows that I would never say a bad thing about her’.
‘Ember Days’ has a slower and sparser sound with advice to ‘breathe the salty air’ while ‘I Should’ve Known Right From the Start’ laments a lost love that maybe shouldn’t have even started: ‘We should have stayed a world away, should have stayed a world apart’. The album closes with an ode to ’50s rock & roll in ‘Rock On (Over and Over)’ (that incidentally rocks out like Status Quo). It’s 2 minutes and 21 seconds of unbriled, head-bopping joy courtesy of power chords and crashing drums. A complete delight.
‘A Dream is All We Knew’ is an album you’ll want to become familiar with.
