Now, over the past couple of years, I’ve written quite a bit about the Brooklyn-based psych rock/indie rock trio Sunflower Bean, and as you can recall, the band comprised of founding members Nick Kivlen (guitar, vocals) and Jacob Faber (drums), along with Julia Cumming (bass, vocals) can trace their origins to when Kivlen and Faber were both members of Turnip King. At the time Kivlen and Faber had been spending a great deal of time away from their then-primary project jamming together, before deciding that that they should start their own project. Kivlen, who knew Cumming through mutual friends was recruited to join the band — although Cumming was a member of Supercute! with Rachel Trachtenberg.
The band quickly became a buzz-worthy act with a run of attention grabbing, critically applauded sets during 2014’s CMJ Festival, which they promptly followed up that year’s Rock & Roll Heathen EP AND 2015’s Show Me Your Seven Secrets EP — and thanks to the success of singles like “Tame Impala” and “2013,” the band quickly rose to national and international prominence. Adding to a rapidly growing profile, the trio toured across the US and the UK as a headliner, and as an opener for Wolf Alice, Best Coast and The Vaccines, before 2016’s Matthew Molnar-produced, full-length debut Human Ceremony. After spending the better part of that year with a roughly 200 date world tour, the members of the band initially planned to take a well-earned, extended break; however, by December, the trio wound up in Faber’s Long Island basement with song ideas that eventually became their Jacob Portrait and Matt Molnar co-produecd sophomore album Twentytwo in Blue, which was released earlier this year through Mom + Pop Records. Since its release, the album has been a commercial and critical success — the album debut in the Top 40 in the UK, hit #5 on Billboard‘s Top New Artists chart, and earned praise from Paste, NME and others.
Coincidentally, the album’s release was 22 months after the release of their full-length debut, while marking when each of the members turn 22. The album’s first single “I Was A Fool,” revealed a radical change in sonic direction with the band leaning heavily towards 70s AM rock — in particular, Fleetwood Mac. The album’s first official single and second overall, the stomping and anthemic “Crisis Fest,” was arguably the most politically charged single the band has ever written and recorded, as it focuses on the uncertain and politically volatile period it was written, with the song being an urgent call to action to young people to get out there, get involved and make the world right once and for all. And goddamn it, it’s necessary. “Twentytwo,” the album’s third single was a breezy feminist anthem, focused on fighting against society’s expectations and demands upon women as well as the abuses of powerful men.
Since their sophomore album’s release, the members of Sunflower Bean have been busy extensively touring and playing sold out dates both internationally and nationally, along with a run of appearances across the national festival circuit that will include stops at Voodoo Festival, Pickathon, SummerStage, XPoNential, before returning to the EU, the UK and Asia. The fall will see Sunflower Bean the band opening for Interpol; but in the meantime, the folks at Audiotree invited the members of Sunflower Bean to to perform the mesmerizing, Heart-like “Memoria,” a track that finds the band balancing a swaggering, self-assuredness with a wistful ache.
Check out the tour dates below.
Tour dates
6/18 – Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room %
6/19 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret
6/20 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile %
6/23 – Denver, CO @ Westword Music Showcase
6/25 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb ^
6/26 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar ^
6/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry ^
6/29 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
6/30 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hoosier Dome ^
7/1 – Nashville, TN @ 3rd and Lindsley ^
7/12 – Ann Arbor, MI @ WQKL Ann Arbor Sonic Lunch Outdoor Summer Concert Series
7/28 – Camden, NJ @ XPoNential Music Festival
8/4-5 – Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon
8/11 – New York, New York @ East River Park (co-headline with Porches)
8/25 – Reading Festival @ Reading, Berkshire, UK
8/26 – Leeds Festival @ Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
8/27 – Hull Library @ Hull, UK
8/28 – The Trades Club – Hebdon Bridge @ West Yorkshire, UK
8/31 – Scotland Electric Fields Festival @ Thornhill, UK
9/01 – End of the Road @ Dorset, UK
9/02 – Into The Great Wide Open @ Vlieland, Netherlands
9/11 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre +
9/12 – Montreal, QC @ Olympia Theatre +
9/13 – Toronto, ON @ Rebel +
9/16 – Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Theatre +
9/17 – Columbus, OH @ Express LIVE: Indoor Stage +
9/27 – Dallas, TX @ Bomb Factory +
9/28 – Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall +
9/29 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Lawn +
10/01 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren +
10/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl *
10/05 – San Diego, CA @ SDSU Open Air Theatre *
10/06 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre *
10/26 – 28 – New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Festival
11/12 – Osaka, Japa @ Shangri La
11/13 – Tokyo, Japan @ Space Odd
11/14 – Shanghai, China @ YYT
11/15 – Beijing, China @ Yugong Yishan
11/19 – Cardiff, Wales @ The Globe
11/20 – Leeds, England @ The Church
11/21 – Brighton, England @ The Old Market
11/22 – London, England @ Hackney Arts Centre
11/23 – Leicester, England @ Dryden Street Social
11/25 – Oxford, England @ The Bullingdon
11/26 – Glasgow, Scotland @ The Art School
11/27 – Manchester, England @ Manchester Academy
11/28 – Portsmouth, England @ Wedgewood Rooms
11/29 – Bristol, England @ SWX Bristol
11/30 – Cambridge, England @ The Junction
12/01 – Birmingham, England @ Castle & Falcon
# w/ Jesse Jo Stark
% w/ The Paranoyds
^ w/ Public Access TV
+ supporting Interpol
* supporting Interpol & The Kills
