If you think you never heard of this brotherly duo, it might lie in the fact that Brian and Michael Daddario are7 and 19 years old! Actually, they seem to be Broadway stallwarts, one of the brothers even having a role in the "People Like Us" movie. So you're expecting a very modern pop record, probably a lot of synths, even some rapper friend joining the proceedings, a lot of studio musicians, producers... None of that.
Actually, when I saw that this one got five stars in one of my favorite music magazines, and its focus is not exactly on the most modern music around, without reading the review and knowing that this one is somewhere on the "to listen to" pile (usually, a few years from now), I jumped at the opportunity without hesitation. If I didn't see the cover first, I would have thought that these guys, playing most of the music themselves, are somewhere deep in their fifties.. This is probably one of the most pleasing, measured and interesting combination of sounds from the Sixties and Seventies. Not only on the album itself, but probably within each song presented here! Under the producing hand of Foxygen's James Rado, the brothers serve as an intermingling musical stew of Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, The Beach Boys and count of others from the American side of the Atlantic, and then, inevitably, The Beatles, Ray Davies and The Kinks, The Who and a few others of course, from Good Old GB, on the other side. And of course, as the brothers say themselves, The Ramones, since they do a lot of slowish numbers on the album. Maybe an internal joke of theirs, but then, The Ramones were The Beatles lovers too.
What does make this music exceptional is that is neither contrived or a simple copycat stuff of two kids enthused by the music first heard quite a some time before they were born, but a genuine re-thinking and presentation of the sounds that will always be great, at least to these ears. Pick any of the multi-tunes here, the opener "I Wanna Prove to You", "As Long As We're Together", "Frank", any... They all have a seamless and logical musical flow, even though, each song is a three in one proposition. Actually, you catch yourself playing this album over and over, feeling like a kid (no pun intended) trying to find the candy that has sprung all over the room when the candy bag was opened in a hurry. And you will find some incredible musical candy here.
This is one goes straight to the albums of the year shortlist.
