Skilled performers and exemplary musicians, the Lemon Twigs' songwriting has consisted mainly of meticulously curated pastiche. Each of the group's records have focused on different '70s styles, ranging from precision pop to over-the-top FM radio arena rock to sentimental singer/songwriter material. On their fourth album, 2023's Everything Harmony, the duo of brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario took a softer than usual route, turning in their most subtle and reflective material, as well as a record where the nods to their classic rock inspirations were at their least overt. Perhaps that approach felt a little too emotionally naked for the D'Addario brothers, as fifth album A Dream Is All We Know finds them turning out 12 new tunes that are back to the on-the-nose reworkings of their earlier material. This combination of homage and reconstruction is kept from being boring or fully derivative by the inventiveness and enthusiasm the siblings bring to whatever style they're approaching. "My Golden Years" opens the set with power pop jangle from 12-string guitars and Beach Boys-esque falsetto harmony vocals. Direct Beatles references show up in the stern pop melodies of "Peppermint Roses" and the "Taxman"-esque bass line and psychedelic bubblegum flavor of "They Don't Know How to Fall in Place." "A Dream Is All I Know" brings in grinning wah-wah guitars and '70s soft rock lightness, "If You and I Are Not Wise" introduces the Byrds to Teenage Fanclub, "Ember Days" flirts with a Free Design take on bossa nova, and several phases of the Beach Boys are touched upon as well. The variety keeps things fun, even when "How Can I Love Her More?" is dangerously close to something off Wild Honey and the Sean Ono Lennon-produced "In the Eyes of the Girl" sounds like a faithful rewrite of "In My Room." Much as the earlier Lemon Twigs records could come off as unofficial tributes to Todd Rundgren or Billy Joel, A Dream Is All We Know mixes up its subjects of study but chooses obsessively detailed replication over the hints of originality and vulnerable emotions that start emerging when the Lemon Twigs let their guard down. ~ Fred Thomas