Is Lemons by Gavin Caine

For fans of Cardiacs, They Might Be Giants, Husker Du, the Elephant 6 Collective, and the death of the so-called American Dream, Is Lemons by Gavin Caine brings a baroque flamboyance to 80s college rock to add depth to the famously jaded narratives of the forerunners of mass-market alternative rock. Where those classic post hardcore bands directly satirized supposed upward mobility under neoliberal individualism, Is Lemons peels back another layer of absurdity to poke fun at the idea that being an American or experiencing an American story exists in any sense at all. All the same jangly guitar riffs, tightly harmonic vocals, and pleasantly distorted production appear from the Reagan era, but the addition of subtle electronic glitches, flashy synth leads, and progressive chord changes immerses us in an alien psychedelic headspace. The contemporary soul can’t engage with any overarching national narrative without introducing some sort of fantastical distance, recognizing identity-based mythmaking as a category of completely untrue hallucinations which bear no functional difference to the sort of nonsensical babble you’d hear from a strung-out hippy.