"Something audacious is happening in the otherwise-inconspicuous state of Rhode Island. The Lexingtons, helmed by their chief Eric Warncke, have taken the plunge that very few bands dare to anymore: the release of a double album, titled (with its yin-yang polarity in check) Isn’t It Nice To Be Loved?/Choose Choice.


In certain circles, Warncke is a well-known Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fanatic and soft-pop enthusiast, so the offerings generously presented here come as no surprise to those familiar with Warncke as friend and champion of such genres.

That said, The Lexingtons genre-hop (is that a legitimate verb?) and there’s as much bubblegum/pop happiness that traverses the ’80s and ’90s as well, with the sugar-sweet “Never Say Something You’ll Later Regret.” With that song, I’m instantly dropped into the middle of a John Hughes film and part of me breaks out in a sweat as I feel like I might very well wake up and be standing amidst a high school mixer again.

A further extension of that vibe occurs with the instrumental “Space Flight is Delayed,” which bears the insistent driving earmarks of a gentler My Bloody Valentine. My favorite tune on this first “disc” of the double album is the infectious “Health is Here!” with a glockenspiel ticking time behind the velvety tones of a female vocalist. It’s life-affirming stuff; the other adjective that applies here is “guileless.”


This is a good enough segue to the second “disc,” as long as we’re talking guileless. Warncke takes that sense of joyful innocence—the idea that there are no rules to be broken, just open pastures to be explored—and he expands that with the Choose Choice side of things. I must confess that this is my favorite of the two sides of the coin, as it’s a veritable stew of styles: orchestral pomp (”Born on the Moon”), Motown and funk (”You Gotta Stop”), and sweeping melancholy instrumentals (”Alex’s Melody”).

The song that best represents this disc is “Jacob’s Bird,” with its jangle-y piano summoning up the friendly ghost of Joe Raposo. What The Lexingtons prove here is that music is, at its core, fun. I hope other musicians take note of Warncke as producer and songwriter because he’s quietly gaining on everybody, if not surpassing them outright.

Famous denizens of Rhode Island include The Cowsills, H.P. Lovecraft, and S.J. Perelman. It might be time very soon to acknowledge Eric Warncke among the homegrown talents." - John Lane
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"The latest release by THE LEXINGTONS is a double album; an ambitious format and quite unusual for an unsigned young group but ISN’T IT NICE TO BE LOVED?/CHOOSE CHOICE definitely pulls it off. The concept of releasing huge amounts of music at once, ranging from drafts and interludes to full length original songs and beautiful cover versions could be the antithesis to the widely proclaimed death of the album format. If the death of the album sounds like ISN’T IT NICE TO BE LOVED?/CHOOSE CHOICE, I’m in. Eric Warncke writes tunes that don’t seem to be composed with any potential listener in mind (which is a good thing). There is a touching sense of urgency in his song writing that might be compared to Rocketship, Sufjan Stevens or a pop version of Los Campesinos!, if a comparison is needed. In addition, Warncke possesses a profound knowledge of pop history and hides lots of little hints, references and tributes to his heroes in his compositions.

The first album, ISN’T IT NICE TO BE LOVED? is a gorgeous collection of original pop songs and beautiful cover versions (CHANGE IS HARD and THIRTEEN). The production is rather low-key, but it suits the music and the whole idea of the album beautifully. Favorites are I CAN BE LIKE THAT, NEVER SAY SOMETHING YOU’LL LATER REGRET and MAKING IT IS TOUGH. These sweet, sad and quirky pop songs make you want to have their titles tattooed across your wrist. Eric has a fantastic talent for writing irresistible hooks that you need to hear over and over again. This was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2010 and definitely one of my favorite albums of the past year.

CHOOSE CHOICE, album number two, consists of mid tempo instrumentals, dreamy little pop tunes and demos. The pieces resemble vintage movie scores, TV themes from the 60s and traditional folk melodies. The album has a strangely haunting feel to it - sounding familiar and completely unique at the same time. Influences include The Beach Boys (Eric also runs an acclaimed expert blog), Canadian pop group The Heavy Blinkers and Italian composer Ennio Morricone. John Lane of Expo and Daniel Hirst of The Man From Another Place also are (slightly more grown-up) brothers in spirit. CHOOSE CHOICE is a beautiful, other-worldly album that leaves the listener breathless, stirred with emotion and with the strong need to hear more." - Cathrin Haller