LEMON TWIGS’ AMBITIONS FLOURISH
The Lemon Twigs Go to School (4AD)
The Lemon Twigs’ memorable first album, Do Hollywood, was so self-assured it was hard to believe its multi-instrumentalist masterminds, Long Island brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario, were still in high school. Perhaps even more surprising was that they were so obviously enamoured by the flamboyant pop of their parents’ (or grandparents’), generation. The record was a fun, florid ’60s and ’70s throwback brimming with melodies, hooks, harmonies and a hefty dose of psychedelic weirdness.
The ambitious duo, now 21 and 19, have gone straight to the rockmusical phase of their career. Go to School is a sprawling concept record about the adolescent struggles of a chimpanzee raised as a human boy. And as might be expected with a conceit like that, it allows them to go full throttle with the theatrical themes and grandiose production they had on their debut.
The chimp’s father is played by Twigs hero Todd Rundgren, another pop purist who in his own work took the form to farout places.
While the brothers have said they’re striving for Sondheim, at its most overwrought Go to School is more reminiscent of Meat Loaf ’s Bat Out of Hell — produced by Rundgren.
The overarching primategrowing-pains narrative is thin, but the best numbers stand apart and will make fans anxious to see what these bold brothers come up with next.