The Smug Brothers’ second LP, Application of the Twig, under its current lineup is a continuously circulating motion of themes. The lo-fi jangle-pop band purveys this so well that even the final track, “That’s News I Could Have Used Yesterday,” seems to persist to spill back over to the skit-length opener “Approaching Dwarf Speed.” This feeling came to me a handful of times through just one listen, almost like the album had been split into three acts. If you’re a musician looking to draw in an audience, this method seems to be both optimal and also premeditated. The droning chords of jangle music — dating as far back to when it was almost in complete control of radio demand in the ‘60s — flowing alliterations, and the attention-getting brevity of the tracks allow for pristine pace-setting when introducing a listener to new, reoccurring motifs.
In the world of Smug Brothers, this can mean that, at times, you’re in for a world of some wacky, subjective Beatles-esque nonsense. Can this be a frustrating listening experience at times? When done too much and incorrectly, sure, but this group isn’t deliberately throwing ideas at the wall and hoping a few of them stick. As easy as a comparison that the Beatles is, especially when it comes to the band’s craft at hook-writing, a more obvious and on-the-nose one is Dayton* lo-fi rock legends Guided by Voices.** The bands also share that same southwestern Ohio town. Another pleasant, recurring sound palette that can be heard on this record are quick post-punk hits, particularly “It’s A Free Curve.” While pinpointing a specific lyrical theme may be difficult upon first or second listen, the Smug Brothers noticeably execute well when it comes to boxing similar sounds together on this record.
Kyle Melton answered some questions about the themes of the album over an Instagram correspondence:
“In late 2019, we started working on material that was starting to form into an album, but we split most of those tracks out into the three EPs we released during 2020: Flame Verbatim, Room of the Year, and Every Surface Under Heaven.
“After those came out, we went back into our outtakes and pulled together the Application of the Twig album. That material was started as far back as 2014, with Scott Tribble and Kyle Sowash adding their parts and me putting on final touches in early 2021.
“But, I do think Twig has a few sonic themes Smug Brothers have that are juxtaposed in new ways. There’s the short post-punk things, twinges of folk-country, jangly twee pop, subdued introspective tunes, and the bigger rock stuff all jumbled together in a way we haven’t really done before, and likely would not have done except for the limitations of 2020 and pandemic life.”
A common trait among the different movements of this album was the immediate back-and-forth contrast between brighter and darker-sounding jangles (i.e. the first three tracks, especially “Seemed Like You To Me” and “I Have Been On”). Despite the high accessibility of a front-to-back album listen, a majority of the songs — “Abandoning Utopia,” “Bridge To The Odyssey Saints” — require attentive dissection and multiple listens to begin to come to a conclusion about the lyrical origins. This is fine, as tools like the band’s use of witty alliterations allow the dialogue to flow pretty fluidly and evenly throughout. It’s a very art-house manner of handling things, which is why it works here and isn’t necessarily a negative.
In 2020, Smug Brothers released those three EPs in lieu of what might’ve been a full-length. (When you record in your own space, you have the liberty to put together multiple projects over the span of one year.) The prize to listening to this record and all of the preceding Smug Brothers compilations is being able to hear the chemistry between the sounds of different lineups. Of course, a record will sound different when you swap out someone like Brian Baker for Kyle Sowash. Both are incredibly talented musicians who have a refined approach to lo-fi music. Bands last when they’re run by committee. The approach surely worked for Smug Brothers when they had to virtually send parts to each other because of the pandemic, mostly pleasing all of the other members on first try. It was through that practice with a newer lineup that Application of the Twig sounds like a decades-long work from these four guys.
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