Secret Monkey Weekend - Lemon Drop Hammer (2025)

Secret Monkey Weekend? From a Tiger Beat magazine headline! Lemon Drop Hammer? And I thought someone was hitting the formaldehyde a little heavy lately. However, the music does bristle with catchy melodies & mainstream-commercial vocals (“Na Nanana”). Yes, nonsensical but catchy – catchy as in how “Papa Oom Mow Mow” & “Na Na Hey, Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)” were.

Guitarist Jefferson Hart’s lead vocal has a good Tom Petty tone & when coupled with the female na, na, na chorus, it’s infectious like a good commercial tune should be. Play it all day on the radio & people will be singing it to themselves on busy city streets.

This is the family trio’s sophomore album, produced by veteran musician Don Dixon (trombones/slide guitar) on Lemon Drop Hammer, where Jefferson’s stepdaughters join with wonderfully energetic female vocals. They drenched each song in flavorful sugary harmonies on whatever they sing. It’s become obvious on “Merida” that’s an equally catchy pop tune with merit & a percussive aggressive beat.

Out of North Carolina, Jefferson is joined by Lila Brown-Hart (drums/vocals) & Ella (bass/vocals) to sculpt a mix of Squeeze-oriented melodic tunes run through a Deaf School strainer. There is a new wave/punk flavor to some of these songs or an earlier hybrid somewhat like ‘60s band The Castaways (“Liar, Liar,” “Sam”).

The mature voice of Jefferson mixed in with the “adolescent-like” voices of Ella & Lila work exceptionally well, especially on “Things You Threw Away,” another pop jewel. What’s surprising is that music like this often gets bogged down in cliches & silliness, but not here. This has been knitted with a sharp needle & it’s all well-arranged & balanced, paced.