Don’t Get Lemon – Have Some Shame LP (Clear / Red Vinyl)

Say Something New For Once is an ironic commentary on the process of songwriting. Most bands have the opportunity to say something unique about their lives but instead get lost in trivial cliché. Does this song say anything new to you? Is it supposed to? Don’t Get Lemon is the collaborative artistic work of longtime friends Austin Curtis, Nicholas Ross, and Bryan Walters. After touring the west coast off of their debut album, “Hyper Hollow Heaven”, DGL returned with new singles Autocratic Gore and Blow-Up, including a remix by De Lux. With DGL’s triumphant second album, “Have Some Shame” the art-pop trio have expanded their sound to glittering new heights as they dance between shimmering synth-pop and stomping glam rock.

The 9 song 37 minute album, out on à La Carte Records (Soft Kill, Madeline Goldstein, Lesser Care, The True Faith) and Summer Darling Tapes, recorded in rural Texas by Dan Duszynski (Loma / Sub Pop) and mastered by Paul Gold (LCD Soundsystem, Animal Collective) revolts against the bored distant gaze of cliché coldwave, and instead retaliates with the warm fiery embrace of what the band dubs “Heatwave.” This heartfelt sound forms an idiosyncratic identity that also wouldn’t be out of place in a classic John Hughes 80s film soundtrack. Singer Austin Curtis’ looks and stage performance sits comfortably between the sensual sway of Elvis Presley and the chameleon fluidity of David Bowie.

Each performance is an internal battle between masculine and feminine forces punctuated by northern soul style dance movies and the desperate magnetism of Joy Division. Flanked on both sides of him, guitarist/keyboardist Nick Ross and bassist Bryan Walters provide a daring and original take on new-wave acts such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Talking Heads, and Simple Minds, as well as contemporaries like LCD Soundsystem, Alex Cameron, and Cold Cave. Together with Curtis’ smooth yet desperate croon, recalling Morrissey and Bryan Ferry, the Anglophile Texans stretch their hands across the Atlantic to fashion a genuine grasp of pop culture past and future.

Written and Produced by Don’t Get Lemon
Mixing and Additional Engineering by Dan Duszynski
Mastered by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering
Design and Layout by Joshua Bosarge
Photography by Stellina Stampouli
Drums on Pomp and Circumstance tracked at Hexanaught Studios, engineered by Kevin Armstrong, performed by Zane Pacillas
Additional Vocals on Blow-Up and Autocratic Gore
by Darenda Dorsey
For Wells