Over the past couple of years of this site’s history, I’ve written a bit about the Brooklyn-based psych rock/indie rock trio Sunflower Bean. Comprised of founding duo Nick Kivlen (guitar, vocals) and Jacob Faber (drums) with Julia Cumming (bass, lead vocals), the band can trace their origins back to when Kivlen and Faber were members of local indie rock act Turnip King together — and at the time, Kivlen and Faber had been spending a great deal of their time away from the band jamming together, before deciding that they should start their own project. Cumming, who was then a member of Supercute! with Rachel Trachtenburg, was recruited by Kivlen, who had known her through mutual friends.
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 with a series of shows across town; but with the release of that year’s Rock & Roll Heathen EP and 2015’s Show Me Your Seven Secrets EP, which featured singles “Tame Impala” and “2013.” the band quickly rose to national and international prominence. Adding to a growing profile, the Brooklyn-based psych rock trio toured across the US and the UK both as a headliner and as an opener for Wolf Alice, Best Coast and The Vaccines. Sunflower Bean completed a breakthrough run with the release of their Matthew Molnar-produced debut effort Human Ceremony, which was released to critical praise back in 2016.
After spending the better part of 2016 with a roughly 200 date world tour, the members of the band initially planned to take a well-earned, extended break; however by mid-December. the trio were in Faber’s Long Island basement with song ideas that eventually became their highly-anticipated Jacob Portrait and Matt Molnar-produced sophomore effort, Twentytwo in Blue, which is slated for a March 23, 2018 release through Mom + Pop Records, which is both 22 months after the release of their full-length debut — and coincidentally, when each member turns 22.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site throughout 2017, you may have come across the trio’s single “I Was A Fool,” a single that you may recall found the trio closely hewing to the late 60s psych rock and 70s classic rock that has long inspired their sound and aesthetic, but while gently pushing their sound in the direction of Fleetwood Mac. and others. As the band’s Nick Kivlen explained in press notes at the time, “‘I Was A Fool’ is one of those songs that seemingly crept up from nowhere and into our practice space. it was a special moment between the three of us, Julia and I both improvised the lyrics. It feels far longer but it’s been nearly two years since ‘we’ve put new music into the world. I think this song is a good example of how we’ve grown as a band, while still staying true to the band that first played together back in high school.”
Interestingly, “Crisis Fest,” Twentytwo in Blue‘s first official single from the album finds the band tackling much more sobering topics with song directly discussing the uncertainty and politically volatile period in which it was written. “While writing this album, we often reflected back on the people we met while on tour. We felt a strong kinship with the audiences that came to see us all over the country, and we wanted to write a song for them — something to capture the anxieties of an uncertain future. ‘Crisis Fest’ is less about politics and more about the power of us, the young people in this country.” And as a result, the song which sonically finds the band touching upon glam rock — in particular, to my ears, a bit of Bay City Rollers‘ “Saturday Night” mixed with Ace Frehley’s “Back in the New York Groove” as it’s an rousingly anthemic stomper of song, that’s indirectly a call to action that suggests that now it’s the time for young people to start getting the world right — or we won’t have a chance.
The members of the band will be embarking on a lengthy tour to support the album that includes a February 13, 2018 stop at Brooklyn Steel. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
Tour dates
1/26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Everybody Hits
1/31 – Chicago, IL @ Metro ^
2/01 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East ^
2/03 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk ^
2/05 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger ^
2/06 – Dallas, TX @ Granada ^
2/07 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Inside Downstairs) ^
2/09 – New Orleans, LA @ Republic New Orleans ^
2/10 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt ^
2/11 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre ^
2/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel ^
2/14 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club ^
2/22 – London, UK @ The Jazz Cafe @
3/01 – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
3/02 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
3/24 – Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms
3/26 – Norwich, UK @ Open Norwich
3/27 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds
3/28 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK @ Riverside
3/29 – Leeds, UK @ Wardrobe
3/30 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
3/31 – Liverpool, UK @ The Magnet
4/01 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
4/03 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla
4/05 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
4/06 – London, UK @ Koko
4/09 – Paris, FR @ Point Ephemere
4/10 – Antwerp, Belgium @ TRIX VZW
4/11 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
4/12 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow
4/13 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Loppen
4/14 – Berlin, Germany @ Rosis
4/15 – Vienna, Austria @ Chelsea Club
4/17 – Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Romandie
4/18 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Bogen F
4/19 – Cologne, Germany @ Blue Shell
5/20 – Gulf Shores, AL @ The Hangout Music Festival
^ – w/ Sleigh Bells
@ – supporting Jessie Ware
