Lemon Twigs

All live photographs by Claudia Argieri.

There are those who point to them as the saviours of guitar pop, and those who dismiss them as mere copycats of the "sacred triad of the three B's" of pop-rock, namely Beatles, Beach Boys and Byrds (with Big Star ideally picking up the baton). Those who thrill to their so retro approach to music, and those who accuse them of being far too derivative and retromaniac. Those who find them flawless in their mannerism, and those who admit to being irritated by moments that seem to veer into parody. The Lemon Twigs, in their own small way, are one of those bands that inevitably divide fans. Seeing them live, though, might be enough to bring everyone into agreement. We realised as much on Monday 5 October, when the band led by the D'Addario brothers played Santeria Toscana in Milan, the third stop on a mini Italian tour that had already taken them through Rome and Bologna in the preceding days.

That it would be a night steeped in vintage vibes was clear from the very start, when Dutch openers Plastic Family kicked things off. Their look harks back to the most pop and colourful Sixties, with a cartoonish aesthetic borrowed from the Archies, while their sound is a child of the early Seventies, looking to the more teen-leaning power pop bands like Raspberries and to the more bubblegum side of glam (Sweet, but also T. Rex). Plastic Family's output nonetheless showed a certain originality, especially in the still-unreleased tracks (so far they've only put out three on Spotify), where keyboardist and second vocalist Fleur Elman plays a key role, pushing into territory closer to Supertramp. The crowd that arrived early at the venue clearly enjoyed their infectious energy.

The sense of having been teleported to a rock'n'roll party only grows stronger once the Lemon Twigs themselves take the stage, sporting their so adorably out-of-fashion bowl cuts. The opening couldn't be better: they play their ace card right away, launching into "My Golden Years", a song of crystalline beauty capable of making even their detractors waver, one that Alex Chilton would surely be proud of.

© Claudia Argieri

The bittersweet melancholy of Big Star shines through on “What You Were Doing,” one of the key tracks on “Everything Harmony,” the 2023 album that marked a turning point in their career, helping them reach a somewhat wider audience. That recognition also came thanks to songs like “In My Head,” with its heavenly vocal harmonies (and, as Michael has wryly noted, which ended up in the soundtrack of “Ricky Stanicky,” a little-loved comedy starring John Cena), “Ghost Run Free” with its joyous chorus, and “Any Time Of Day,” which winks at Motown and is sung entirely in falsetto. The albums from the Lemon Twigs' earlier phase are less represented: only “The One,” taken from “Songs From The General Public,” makes the cut.

Other delicacies that seem to come straight out of the Sixties, like “2 Or 3” and “You're Still My Girl,” open “Look For Your Mind!,” their latest and most rock'n'roll effort, once again confirming the quality of Brian and Michael D'Addario's harmonies, at times downright stunning. Paradoxically, the two brothers' intricate vocal harmonies seem to benefit from the live setting, coming across as less cloying than they can occasionally feel on record. Equally impressive is the instrumental and technical skill of the whole band: the members repeatedly swap instruments, and Michael, around the midpoint of the show, goes back to pounding the drums as he did in the band's early days. The songs also gain in intensity, thanks to more driving solos and an energy that shows itself in constant guitar acrobatics: throughout the show, the two brothers compete to see who can jump higher, with Brian - apparently the quieter of the two - surprisingly coming out on top.

© Claudia Argieri

The rest of the setlist draws mainly on the last two albums, forever balanced between typically 60s innocence and carefree spirit (songs like "I Just Can't Get Over Losing You" and "Yeah I Do" are emblematic in this sense, tracks the early Beatles could have written) and end-of-summer melancholy à la Brian Wilson, somewhere between baroque pop and power pop (with the crowd singing "Look For Your Mind" and "Nothin' But You" at the top of their lungs). The D'Addario brothers' menu is also seasoned with psychedelic pop spices ("Peppermint Roses") that flavour the dish. For some it's mere Sixties calligraphy; for this writer, they're simply beautiful songs. Their only "fault", if you can call it that, is coming out today.

Whatever one's opinion, the passion radiating from every note and every chorus the Lemon Twigs play is genuinely moving. You can feel it, for instance, when they dig up "Transparent Day" by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. A passion that clearly won over the diverse crowd gathered in Milan, made up both of spectators who got to experience the Sixties and Seventies firsthand and of much younger fans who perhaps found their way to the Beatles and Beach Boys (and who knows, maybe even Badfinger, Flamin' Groovies and plenty of others) precisely thanks to the Lemon Twigs. A role that, on closer inspection, other bands have played before them: staying within power pop, just think of Teenage Fanclub in the first half of the Nineties.

© Claudia Argieri

The lively rockabilly of “Bring You Down” paves the way for the encore, which opens with Brian D’Addario as the sole protagonist: alone, with an acoustic guitar, he performs “Joy” and “Corner Of My Eye”, letting all his passion for Simon & Garfunkel shine through. For the exuberant finale, the full band returns to the stage for “Rock On”. A fitting close to an evening in which Lemon Twigs proved that nostalgia may well be the starting point, but it's the songs that always make the difference.

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