Rock duo The Lemon Twigs talked with host Jill Riley about their upcoming album Look For Your Mind!, set to be released Friday, May 8, and their upcoming show in Minneapolis at Fine Line Friday, May 1.

Listen to the full interview in the player above, and find a complete transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: You're listening to The Current, I'm Jill Riley. I'm very excited about the guests that are on the line. We've been following their career here at The Current since their debut album Do Hollywood, and since then, let's see, we're up to six full-length studio albums. The new one is coming out May 8, it's called Look For Your Mind!, and I've got The Lemon Twigs on the line. Brian and Michael D'Addario, hi, you guys, welcome to The Current.

Brian and Michael D'Addario: Hi. How you doing? Thanks for having us.

Jill Riley: I was just thinking back, 10 years ago, it was fall of 2016 when I saw you perform for the first time at 7th St Entry in Minneapolis. You guys were opening for the band Sunflower Bean. At The Current we totally fell in love with your music and your live performances. In fact, you guys played The Current's 12th anniversary party. So it was kind of fun to think about those memories, preparing to talk to you guys today. The new record Look For Your Mind! is dropping on May 8. And let me tell you, if I were digging through the record crates at the record store and I saw this album cover, I would put it under my arm. I'd be ready to buy it based on the cover alone, because I think it represents an era that I love so very much. Tell me about what was your goal for this album, and where did you record?

Michael D'Addario: It's recorded mostly at our studio.

Brian D'Addario: Yeah, in Brooklyn.

Michael D'Addario: Yeah, where we're at right now. And we were really enjoying playing with this lineup that we have right now. It's actually our keyboard player you would have seen like 10 years ago, is now our bass player/keyboard player, and we switch around a little bit. He's been back for three years or something,

Brian D'Addario: Yeah, Danny [Ayala].

Michael D'Addario: And then our drummer is named Reza [Matin], and, yeah, we were really enjoying playing live, so we thought it might be fun to get them in the studio and get a little more, like inspiration that way.

Michael D'Addario: After 10 years, it gets a little bit —

Brian D'Addario: More than 10 years.

Michael D'Addario: It gets a little bit boring, I guess. So that injected some life into the project. And my girlfriend played some bass on the record too. She did the cover as well.

Brian D'Addario: Eva Chambers.

Michael D'Addario: So that was kind of what it was about for us, capturing the live energy a little bit on records. It's more of like a rock four-piece sound than any of our other records, I think.

Jill Riley: And the new record, again, it's called Look For Your Mind! It's dropping on May 8. The song that I can't get out of my head is called "I Just Can't Get Over Losing You." I've heard a couple of the songs ahead of the release of the record, and that song in particular, it just has such a great just this jangly British Invasion kind of sound. And you guys, that is my sweet spot. I love anything influenced by the ‘60s British Invasion. And I wonder if you could talk about that song in particular, and what kind of moved you to embrace that sound?

Michael D'Addario: Yeah, I think you're hitting the nail on the head. It does have, a little bit to me, like it's more almost New Colony Six, or Gerry & The Pacemakers or something. The Beatles thing, to the most syrupy, kind of, twee possible way that you could, you could do that. So, yeah, that was kind of our goal, I think we did it. We distilled and the guitar sounds are crystal clear and exaggerated, cartoony versions of Fender Guitars. And so that was kind of the idea to get the most concentrated thing possible.

Jill Riley: Yeah, well, and you succeeded. It's just sugary goodness, it's so catchy. There's another song on the record called "2 or 3," where it has that very 1960s almost like a little California pop, but almost that kind of Baroque pop sound with just really great layering. I wonder if you could talk about recording that song.

Michael D'Addario: To me, it really sounds like The Wrecking Crew, or like a bunch of studio musicians playing. That's one of the songs. Like I said, a lot of them we did with the band. But then there's also songs that we did just the two of us. That song is actually just Brian. Brian laid down the drums, he laid down the bass, then laid down the guitar, like 100 instruments, and then all doubling themselves and stuff. And it really sounds like a group, which is pretty hard to do with one dude. But then we did orchestrations as well. Brian wrote the orchestrations, but we had people play strings and flutes and things like that.

Brian D'Addario: I feel that Michael goes really deep with a lot of that [Phil] Spector stuff, and kind of Spector copycat records of the of the period. So when it came to the mixing and all the, I guess you'd call it like post-production stuff with adding the layers of reverb and all this stuff that kind of gives it that extra sheen. You know, I took care of more of the arranging side of it.

Michael D'Addario: Yeah, we were trying to synthesize it so that it felt like a homogenous thing, which, because the risk of doing the overdub style is that it can sound kind of like separate and PC and stuff like that.

Brian D'Addario: We wanted it to feel more alive than a studio creation?

Jill Riley: Yeah. Because, I mean, when it comes to studio creations, music history will tell us that there are the studio creations. And then it's like, oh, wait, how are we going to play this when we go on the road? And I wonder if that's something that you think about as well, when you're making records.

Michael D'Addario: We try not to think about it if it hurts the record, but sometimes it can help, because in the past we've had the tendency to just keep throwing stuff on —

Brian D'Addario: And then people end up liking the version —

Michael D'Addario: The way that we do it live. Yeah, they're like, Wow, you really hear the songs — it's just a means to an end, really like the idea that, okay, maybe we'll need to recreate it live, so maybe we shouldn't do as much. I don't know that that's the best reason to pull back, but sometimes it is for the best. Just coincidentally,

Jill Riley: The Lemon Twigs are on the line. Brian and Michael D"Addario are on The Current. The Lemon Twigs Look For Your Mind! is dropping on May 8. Now, before that, you're coming back to the Twin Cities on Friday, May 1, at the Fine Line. And you've played the Fine Line a handful of times. Is there anything in particular about Minneapolis that you look forward to?

Michael D'Addario: Oh, our friend just moved there, so that'll be fun.

Brian D'Addario: Andrew, yeah.

Michael D'Addario: Well, I'm just glad that we're coming in the summer. I know that. I'm stoked. The last time it was cold as hell.

Brian D'Addario: No, it's always really fun. I remember, it is kind of interesting, because every time we do play the Fine Line, you know, so we've really played the

Michael D'Addario: Did we play the Fine Line, last time, is that that place?

Brian D'Addario: Yeah, of course, yeah. And we were there with Josephine. So we're actually coming with the same group.

Michael D'Addario: That's crazy. Yeah.

Brian D'Addario: Really amazing band, Josephine Network, and we've each put out records since the last time. So it'll be different.

Michael D'Addario: And, yeah, I just like that street. I like walking around after the show and going to that pizza place.

Jill Riley: Pizza Luce must have been the one down the road?

Michael D'Addario: There were a lot of people there at that time of night.

Jill Riley: Well, we're looking forward to having you back in Minneapolis again Friday, at the Fine Line, The Lemon Twigs, and then not far away from the release of the new record, Look For Your Mind! Before I let you guys go, another exciting thing, I think, for you guys is you've had the opportunity to meet a lot of great musicians, and I know that there are some iconic musicians certainly that are fans of your music, like Elton John. That's pretty wild.

Brian D'Addario: Yeah, it's awesome.

Jill Riley: Yeah, and Questlove and Iggy Pop have said great things about your music. I noticed that you guys worked with Thundercat on his latest record. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about that before I let you go.

Brian D'Addario: Well, it was super cool, at this point it was about two years ago, so we were both really happy that it actually made the record. Because when we first met with him, he played us about 20 songs that he had made. And we thought, Wow, a lot of this stuff is cool, and whatever we do kind of makes it, you know. But it's cool because two of the songs made it. It was just four days of writing a lot of songs from scratch. And whenever you're working with someone, there's a learning curve, because they write in their own way. He has an amazing dexterity on the bass, and he writes with all these really interesting chords, and because of the way he plays, it's kind of like he plays on the six-string bass. I was looking at his fingers, and I couldn't make heads or tails familiar with those chords. So a little intimidating at first, but then we just really got into a groove. I'm happy with how it came out.

Jill Riley: Yeah. So you'll have to listen for those songs on the new Thundercat record and The Lemon Twigs with their own new album Look For Your Mind! dropping May 8, coming to the Fine Line this Friday, May 1, and you can check out more information about that upcoming concert and others at thecurrent.org/giglist. Well, we look forward to you coming back to town. Brian and Michael, thank you so much for checking in with The Current.

Brian and Michael D'Addario: No problem. Thanks for having us.

Credits

Guests – Brian and Michael D’Addario
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer - Natalia Toledo

External Link

The Lemon Twigs – Official Website