Lemon Twigs, The "Look For Your Mind!" [Clear 'Day' Vinyl]

The Lemon Twigs' two previous Captured Tracks albums, A Dream Is All We Know (2024) and Everything Harmony (2023), certainly indicated something of a ground zero in their then five album career. "It was the beginning of making records that we would listen to ourselves," says Michael D'Addario, the younger Twig brother, now aged 26. By the time of A Dream Is All We Know and the future Michael classic "My Golden Years," The Lemon Twigs' new era had truly begun. And now comes the third Lemon Twigs album for Captured Tracks, Look for Your Mind!, which underneath its poppy exterior contains an undercurrent of paranoia and suspicion.

Opening with title track "Look for Your Mind," a jangly Michael number, the listener is introduced to the guitar-driven harmony sound that is the centering theme of the album. Much of what was achieved on A Dream Is All We Know is here, just more laser focused. It's classic Twigs, indebted to the golden age of guitar pop, but in no way slavish.

New to this album is the inclusion of live Twigs Reza Matin (drums) and Danny Ayala (bass), as well as Eva Chambers of Tchotchke, to the rhythm section. With the brothers previously having handled everything in the studio themselves, this shows a newfound sense of freedom. "Gather Round" is one of Look for Your Mind!'s bigger productions. A Brian D'Addario song with joyous orchestrations, it feels like a turn of the century campaign song. The writer is looking for an uncorrupted leader, but resolves that collective action is the only way forward. Musically it's ornate and delightfully 1967, but the mood and sentiment is distinctly 2026. "Every time we try to write something that's completely straightforward, we can't help adding an element which comes out of left field," explains Brian.

Brian's "Fire and Gold" starts off with a ringing power pop riff before turning everything inside out. It's also the first song on the album to feature the powerhouse drummer Reza Matin, whom the brothers favorably compare to Big Star's Jody Stephens, The Raspberries' Jim Bonfanti, and The Move's Bev Bevan.

Closing side one on the vinyl record is Michael's beautiful ballad, "Mean to Me", with vocals The Beach Boys would be happy to have committed to wax 60 years ago, care of Michael, Brian and Danny. The closer of the second side, "Your True Enemy," completely throws a spanner in the works. "We at first approached the song as a simple rock arrangement, but it didn't fit the moodiness of the lyric," states Brian. "So that's when we started to get more experimental."

The Lemon Twigs' seventh studio album may at first seem like a direct continuation of the previous two, but it is also a lot more, with nods to the earlier records, a new found collective spirit, and most importantly great songwriting.