The D'Addario brothers, Mike and Brian – aka The Lemon Twigs – are sat close by one another, sharing earbuds as they huddle around a phone camera as they conduct a series of media interviews.
It's an amusing tableau – almost like what you'd envision the brothers were like on the school bus growing up, listening to music on the same Sony Discman or maybe an early iPod.They're making do in the quiet of their rehearsal studio's halls – just a few doors away, the rest of The Lemon Twigs live band are getting their parts down-pat prior to a North American tour.
"We just got together a Beatles cover for this run," Brian says – the elder of the two Lemon Twigs siblings.
"It's a really early one – a song called 'Hold Me Tight'. That's gonna be really fun to play. We've been working on some new songs to play, too. Not from the last album ['Everything Harmony' released in May], but another record that we just finished making."
There's been nothing in the band's latest press material at all about new music – not least of all because 'Everything Harmony' is barely four months old at this point – so to hear the D'Addarios speak so casually about its follow-up so soon is a surprise to say the least.
It's no big deal to the brothers, though – as they explain, it's just how they operate. "We don't really have a schedule where we can just block out two weeks and go away somewhere to just record," Mike says.
"The way we tend to do it is we just record whenever we get the chance, and soon enough we'll end up with 20 tracks. We'll take maybe 10 of those that go together, and maybe see if the rest have a home elsewhere.
"There's a general vibe that we're going for – maybe in the instrumentation, or maybe they share a similar origin in how they were written."
Brian nods in agreement. "I think the way we curated 'Everything Harmony' and this new album was pretty similar, even though they sound pretty different to one another," he says. "We kind of found a flagship song for each record where we saw it as the best indicator of the style.
"'Corner Of My Eye' on the last album really encapsulated what we were going for, and on this new one it's a lot more bubblegum pop and indebted to that really '60s sound. There's a real warmth to it, which we really like."
Before they get too far ahead of themselves, however, the sibling duo have more touring in support of 'Everything Harmony' to keep focused on. After the band finish their run in North America, they will make their way down to Australia for their first run of shows since 2017.
In addition to their headlining shows, the band will also make an appearance at Adelaide's Harvest Rock festival, where they will join some of their fellow countrymen such as Beck and Sparks on the bill.
It's the latter, who are also a sibling duo greatly inspired by vintage pop music, that especially have the D'Addarios excited. "We played with Sparks at a festival in Mexico City," Mike says.
"We also saw them play a show at the Town Hall in New York last year, and they were absolutely fantastic. We're very excited to see them again, and to discover some new stuff as well because I don't think we've ever played with anyone else on the bill."
The brothers are asked to reflect on their maiden voyage down under, which came in support of their 2016 debut album 'Do Hollywood'. "We had a lot of fun last time around," Brian says.
"I was really taken by how beautiful all the cities were, and how energetic the crowds were. It felt like certain parts of America, in a lot of ways."
Mike smiles at the memory. "I was still a teenager back then, and it was a good time to still have my teen body," he jokes – now at the ripe old age of 24.
The Lemon Twigs 2023 Tour Dates
Thu 26 Oct - The Corner Hotel (Melbourne)Sat 28 Oct - Manning Bar (Sydney)
Sun 29 Oct - Harvest Rock (Adelaide)
Tue 31 Oct - The Outpost (Brisbane)
Harvest Rock 2023 Line-up
Babe RainbowBad//Dreems
Baker Boy
Beck (Australian exclusive)
Bernard Fanning (last Australia show for 2023)
Bright Eyes
Built To Spill
Charlie Collins
Chet Faker
Chromeo
Flight Facilities (Decades DJ set)
Floodlights
Jade Bird
Jamiroquai (Australian exclusive)
Julia Jacklin
Ladyhawke
Nile Rodgers & Chic
Ocean Alley
Paul Kelly
Sam Barber
Santigold
Sparks
Surprise Chef
Tash Sultana
The Lemon Twigs
The Rolling Stone Revue
Thelma Plum
Vera Blue
Warpaint
