don't get lemon and the post punk swagger / dark romance wave of "Pop Star Salvation"

 

"The highest bid on a tear stained love letter / Work’s the blackmail of survival / Put my name adorned in black leather / Place your plastic pain / On a pedestal / Convinced your prose is full and not plain / Or skeletal..."

90's tinged post punk might have never ever left (technically) but it's resurgence has come in laps and waves and everything in between. The last decade has certainly had a well spring of post punk and new wave iterations, most too spot on and sometimes feeling more like straight imprints instead of impressions. Listening, feeling, breathing the mercurial lush emotionalism of "Pop Star Salvation" by the amazing Austin / Houston, Texas based trio Don't Get Lemon and you feel something seeded from inspirations from the past but inevitably, exquisitely new. The sonics here, from the thick rattling bass lines (like a cross between Simon Gallup and Carlos Dengler), the ethereal vintage synth colors that feel as grand as they do aloof, the bruised western punk guitar and Austin Curtis’ truly artful vocal countenance, a cross between a mournful howl and thoughtful spoken poetry, you feel so many colors present. Not only colors really, but shades and translucence, from the tortured romance wave of Psychedelic Furs and the (less than tortured) elegant romantic Cocteau Twins and the ethereal ennui of Beach House, the lush 80's new wave sad dance of Spandau Ballet and Roxy Music, and the Gothic rock / Goth pop stance of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Cure, you can, to some diced up degree, feel aspects of all these elements here re-invented and redefined.  

LINER NOTES:

[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 recorded in rural Texas by Dan Duszynski (Loma / Sub Pop), 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.]

"Waiting your turn in the rotation
Queuing up for pop star salvation
Waiting for your grand ovation
Queuing up for pop star salvation
Waiting your turn in the rotation
Queuing up for pop star salvation
Waiting for your grand ovation
Queuing up for pop star salvation
Waiting your turn in the rotation
Queuing up for pop star salvation"

The truly alluring darkness and light of "Pop Star Salvation" is from the band's latest / current / sophomore album "Have Some Shame".  don't get lemon is comprised of Austin Curtis - vocals, Bryan Walters - bass, percussion, Nick Ross - synth, guitar, drum programming.

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5p61frN4B9cphPQvnWmC9i

https://www.youtube.com/@dontgetlemon5670

https://dontgetlemon.bandcamp.com/album/have-some-shame

https://www.instagram.com/dontgetlemontx

https://www.facebook.com/youdontgetlemon

https://twitter.com/dontgetlemontx



Don’t Get Lemon is a cool, ironic, stylish, detached, danceable pop trio based in Austin and Houston, Texas. Commanding a sound that ranges from 70s Berlin to 80s Manchester, DGL seek to entice the senses with their glam infused synth-pop. There is an alternative to DGL, but could we live with it?





don't get lemon, indie electronica, shoegaze, romance wave, post punk, new wave, glam infused synth pop, "Pop Star Salvation", sophomore album "Have Some Shame", lead vocalist Austin Curtis,