"The strat sound is the most inspiring”

The Lemon Twigs' power-pop has a new sense of refinement - plus some classic guitar heroics

- By Stan Bull

They could be considered the vanguard of a 70s glam rock revival, but TG's favourite New York brother band The Lemon Twigs are exploring a more contemplative and stripped-back sound on their fourth full-length, Everything Harmony. Full of rich vocal harmonies and subtle fingerpicked guitar lines, the band's bold change of pace has resulted in some of their finest work to date.

"The sound came during the demoing process," says Brian D'Addario, who shares vocal, guitar, bass, drum and production duties with his brother Michael. "The songs that stood out were the songs that were more vulnerable. That was a mood that we got into that continued until the whole album was written. We wrote a lot of frivolous pop at the time as well, which we love, but it just felt wrong to put them alongside the other songs."

The brothers' quest to refine their sound found them taking in a wider range of influences than ever before, including the late cellist and composer Arthur Russell, and his 2019 compilation album Iowa Dream. "We played that to death," says Brian. "A lot of those recordings were made in a demo form, and you just get a sense of his completely unique identity as a songwriter and a melodist, and that's what we wanted to capture on our record - what our identities are as writers, not just an audition reel of all these different styles we're interested in."

Speaking from his apartment in Brooklyn, Brian discusses his appreciation for classical guitar, his newfound love of Rickenbacker 12-strings and his formative years as a surprise My Chemical Romance super-fan...

You're from a musical family. What age did you start playing the guitar?