With a thrumming energy, Don’t Get Lemon bring together a sense of glittering melody with a dash of gothic introspection. Autocratic Gore sounds a little like REM doing a cover of the Cure, with a dash of the magical energy of Future Islands’ Samuel T Herring.
Autocratic Gore opens with slow walking bass and vocals that puncture the melody like a brass tack. The sound is wound taut, invoking the monochromatic styles of post-punk, but with a glimmer of playfulness in the vocal harmonies, dressed in reverb, that echo through the song’s background.
As things progress, Autocratic Gore becomes increasingly insistent, melodies swirling and drums crashing as the song builds to a sudden vanishing… And just like that, we’re done, and I’m left marvelling at the space Don’t Get Lemon just created and consumed.
Based in Austin and Houston, Texas, Don’t Get Lemon position themselves as detached, yet danceable, which is pretty much my vibe. On Autocratic Gore, they look to capture “the fear and frustration of the falsified American Dream”. It comes ahead of a to-be-announced forthcoming LP and a clutch of Texas dates to celebrate the song’s release:
- Austin May 25th at Feels So Good
- San Antonio May 26th at Vice Versa
- Dallas May 27th at Double Wide
- Houston May 28th at The End