How do you make a Lemon Twigs record? Take portions of several of these bands: Beatles, Beach Boys, Searchers, Byrds, Raspberries, Left Banke, Todd Rundgren, Badfinger, Big Star, Matthew Sweet, Greg Kihn, Rubinoos, Sloan, and Hollies. Mix well, add new lyrics. Next, pick a different three from the list and do it again. Rinse and repeat.
That sounds easy enough, but it's much harder than it sounds. There are plenty of bands that have done this before, but not many have done it as consistently well as the Lemon Twigs. It's actually shocking how well they pull it off. Can you listen carefully and find chord progressions and bits of melody and identify the source? Absolutely. If you want to play that game, you'll have fun. But it won't work all the time. Sometimes you'll just hear those influences blended into something new that can't be referenced, and it's still great. And that's the difference between these guys and Records, Shoes, Spongtones, et.al. They are just plain better at it than the bands that have done this before. Plus, they've got that sibling vocal harmony thing that is clearly genetic and inimitable. Oh, and they have a killer drummer.
I'd do a track-by-track review, but all I really want to do is get you to listen to it. Go listen to it. If you like half the bands in the list above, I'd be stunned to find out you don't like Lemon Twigs. It's just like listening to those bands, but newer.

Thanks for the heads-up! This one slipped me by. Big fan of their work!
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