A family band like no other, Secret Monkey Weekend returns with sparkling sophomore album Lemon Drop Hammer on June 6. Comprising seasoned guitarist/vocalist Jefferson Hart and his stepdaughters Ella (bass/vocals) and Lila Brown-Hart (drums/vocals), the North Carolina trio’s harmony-heavy Beatles/Squeeze songwriting, charming lyricism, and familial chemistry is channeled into 10 tracks helmed by revered REM/Smithereens producer Don Dixon.
“I wasn’t prepared for Jefferson’s tremendous talent as a writer, player and singer,” said Dixon. “These three individuals have combined to make something I love [and] grown, literally and figuratively, in front of my eyes.”
Secret Monkey Weekend’s wildly atypical backstory is testament to the power of music even in the face of heartrending grief. Ella and Lila’s father Matt, a prominent area drummer who’d toured with Hüsker Dü’s Grant Hart, passed away suddenly in 2012, when his daughters were aged just 4 and 9. Matt had played in bands with Jefferson and, after his friend’s passing, the latter started teaching Ella guitar. A relationship with their mom, Laura, slowly blossomed.
Secret Monkey Weekend (a name derived from a vintage Tiger Beat magazine headline) began as purely organic family therapy, with no plans for anything more. Yet by 2016 they were playing casual shows and soon graduated to a busy calendar of club and festival dates. Debut album All The Time In The World, also produced by Dixon, followed in 2022. It’s a tale so remarkable that the trio is the subject of Emmy-winning 2023 PBS documentary, Secret Monkey Weekend.
Lemon Drop Hammer harnesses timeless Beatles/Kinks melodic instincts to fairy-dust power-pop guitar jangle, authentic first-person lyrics, and three contrasting voices that harmonize as only family can, it’s a record at once instantly classic and, with a teen and 22-year-old aboard, innately contemporary.
Buoyant album opener “So Much Joy” evokes heyday Yardbirds, its “woo-ooh” backups framing textured co-ed vocals. With Ella’s vulnerable, heartfelt lyrics voiced by her sister, “Things You Threw Away” recounts sorting through their late dad’s previously untouched possessions. Meanwhile, the summery “We Can Be Friends” is an innocent ode to childhood with a hook that could be the theme to a ‘70s TV show.
Released on the band’s own Secret Monkey Records, Lemon Drop Hammer will be accompanied by regional touring and later standalone digital singles “Grant Hart (Morning Star)” a fond tribute to their hugely influential late family friend, and the jangle rocking “Don’t Cry To Me”.
