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Sunflower Bean

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Sunflower Bean
Background information
OriginGlen Head, New York and Brooklyn, New York, USA
GenresAlternative rock, indie rock, post-punk revival, psychedelic rock
Years active2013–present
MembersJulia Cumming
Jacob Faber
Nick Kivlen
Websitehttps://www.sunflowerbeanband.com/

Sunflower Bean is an American rock band from Glen Head, New York and Brooklyn founded in 2013. The band consists of Nick Kivlen (lead guitar and vocals), Jacob Faber (drums), and Julia Cumming (bass and lead vocals).[1] The group has released two albums, Human Ceremony (Fat Possum Records, 2016) and Twentytwo in Blue (Mom + Pop Music, 2018).

Career

Julia Cumming, Jacob Faber and Nick Kivlen rehearsing, October 2013

Kivlen and Faber were childhood acquaintances who both enrolled at North Shore High School in Glen Head, New York in 2009. They initially collaborated when Jacob briefly subbed for the drummer in the band Turnip King, which Nick was the bassist for.[2] By early 2013, the two began to create their own original music, practising and writing in Faber's basement.[3] The name of their new band apparently came about due to Kivlen's obsession with sunflower seeds alongside Faber's concurrent love of coffee and coffee beans. The Manhattan-based Cumming, who had been performing in the band Supercute! along with Rachel Trachtenburg since 2009, met Faber and Kivlen at an early Sunflower Bean show; she agreed to join the band as bassist in August 2013, as Supercute! was dissolving.[4]. In the following year, the band moved from Long Island to Bushwick, Brooklyn, becoming active the borough's thriving "DIY" scene [5], even as they felt ambivalent about much of the scene's aesthetic.[6]

The band's appearance at the 2014 CMJ Music Marathon received good notices from All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen[7] and from The New York Times's Jon Pareles, who wrote "New York is still home to bands as varied as Sunflower Bean, whose music suggests what might have happened if psychedelia had emerged after punk and the Police rather than before."[8] They released their first EP, ‘’Show Me Your Seven Secrets’’, initially through their Bandcamp page on January 5, 2015.[9], and later via Fat Possum Records. The EP, which features the singles "Tame Impala" and "2013", was called "astonishingly good" by the NME.[10] (The band, fans of Tame Impala, had named a song after the Australian combo, noting that Tame Impala itself had named a song "Led Zeppelin".[6] ) Cumming provided a good description of the band's sound at the time to i-D: "We used to call it 'neo-psychedelia for the digital age', and now we've just been calling it 'night music', however someone may take that. It's like if Black Sabbath mixed with The Smiths, maybe?"[11] The band - then as now - toured relentlessly, gaining themselves the title of New York City's "hardest-working band" in 2014 [12]); they still tour extensively today, both as headliners and as openers for bands like Pixies, Wolf Alice, DIIV, Foxygen, Best Coast, Cherry Glazerr and Sleigh Bells.

After a successful series of performances at South by Southwest 2015, the band was signed to Fat Possum Records, and an inaugural 7" single ("I Hear Voices" b/w "The Stalker") was released on July 24. On November 12, 2015, they premiered the single "Wall Watcher" on The Fader, announcing also the cover art, release date and track list of their first album, Human Ceremony.[13] The album, which had a more nuanced and pop-friendly feel than the band's earlier "heavy neo-psychedelia" recordings, was released on February 5, 2016 via Fat Possum Records.[14] The album was recorded at Thump Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in eleven days - produced by Matthew Molnar (formerly of the band Friends) and engineered by Jarvis Taveniere. The Fader wrote that Human Ceremony's "sounds are retro, but the lyrics grapple with the loneliness of contemporary existence"; Faber opined to the magazine that the album was “about the weight of being alive,”, while Kivlen wondered how alien civilizations would grapple with seemingly incomprehensible present-day human behaviors on Earth: “If there was an alien text book, there would be a picture, and the alien-language caption would just say, like, 'Human Ceremony'." [15] Billboard (magazine)'s Joe Lynch wrote "Even though no one in Sunflower Bean is of legal drinking age, the Brooklyn indie trio's Human Ceremony is one of the most fully realized, sonically eclectic debut albums (everything from psych pop to stoner metal gets touched upon) in a minute".[16]

"I Was a Fool", the first single released from Sunflower Bean's upcoming second album Twentytwo in Blue, debuted on NPR's "Songs We Love" series on November 3, 2017[17], distributed by Mom + Pop Music in the US and by Lucky Number Music worldwide.[18] The album, due to be released on March 23, 2018, was co-produced by Matthew Molnar and Jacob Portrait (of Unknown Mortal Orchestra), recorded at Thump Studios by Jarvis Taveniere and mixed by Portrait. The band released a second single ("Crisis Fest") on January 12, 2018 with a more politically direct message.[19]

Musical Influences

Beach Fossils, Black Sabbath, The Byrds, Captured Tracks, The Cure, Devo, DIIV, Fleetwood Mac, Glam Rock, Led Zeppelin, Connan Mockasin, The Modern Lovers, Neu!, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, The Smiths, Spacemen 3/Spiritualized, Sun Kil Moon, Talking Heads, Tame Impala, Tonstartssbandht, Total Slacker, T. Rex, The Velvet Underground, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Who, Brian Wilson [20][21][22]

Discography

Studio albums

Year Title
2016 Human Ceremony
2018 Twentytwo in Blue
  • Released: March 23, 2018
  • Labels: Mom + Pop, Lucky Number Music
  • Formats: 12" vinyl, CD, digital

EPs

Year Title
2015 Show Me Your Seven Secrets
  • Self-released: January 5, 2015
  • Fat Possum: October 16, 2015
  • Formats: 12" vinyl, digital
2016 From the Basement (covers EP)
  • Released: September 9, 2016
  • Label: Fat Possum
  • Formats: 12" vinyl, digital

Singles

  • "Bread" - released January 12, 2014 (self-released via Bandcamp)
  • "2013" / "I Want You To Give Me Enough Time (demo)" - released March 17, 2014 (self-released via Bandcamp)
  • "Tame Impala" / "Rock & Roll Heathen" - released August 15, 2014 (self-released via Bandcamp)
  • "I Hear Voices" / "The Stalker" - released July 24, 2015 (Fat Possum Records)
  • "Wall Watcher" - released November 12, 2015 (Fat Possum Records)
  • "Easier Said" - released January 5, 2016 (Fat Possum Records)
  • "I Was a Fool" - released November 3, 2017 (Mom + Pop/Lucky Number Music)
  • "Crisis Fest" - released January 12, 2018 (Mom + Pop/Lucky Number Music)

Videos

  • "2013" - released March 16, 2014 [23]
  • "I Want You To Give Me Enough Time (demo)" - released April 14, 2014 [24]
  • "Tame Impala" - released October 1, 2014 [25]
  • "Wall Watcher" - released November 12, 2015 [26]
  • "Easier Said" - released March 9, 2016 [27]
  • "Come On" - released August 9, 2016 [28]
  • "I Was a Fool" - released November 3, 2017 [29]
  • "Crisis Fest" - released January 12, 2018 [30]

References

  1. ^ Richards, Sam (30 January 2016). "One to watch: Sunflower Bean". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  2. ^ BreakThruRadioTV (27 August 2012). "Turnip King - Serious Business on BTR [ep88]". Youtube.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  3. ^ "How Sunflower Bean Reclaimed Classic Rock and Made It Cool Again". Noisey.vice.com. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  4. ^ Snook, Emma (February 2, 2016). "Sunflower Bean: "Let the next generation have a hero"". DIY. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Hedi Slimane Muse and Sunflower Bean Singer Julia Cumming on the Band's Debut Album". Vogue.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Discovery: Sunflower Bean - Interview Magazine". Interviewmagazine.com. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Bob Boilen's Top 10 Discoveries From The 2014 CMJ Music Marathon". Npr.org. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  8. ^ Pareles, Jon (26 October 2014). "Eras Mix Among 1,300 Groups at CMJ Music Marathon". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  9. ^ ""Show Me Your Seven Secrets" EP, by Sunflower Bean". Sunflower Bean. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  10. ^ "5 Great Albums That May Have Passed You By This Week - NME". NME. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  11. ^ "supercute sunflower bean singer, julia cumming, is hedi slimane's new muse". I-d.vice.com. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  12. ^ "The 10 Hardest-Working Bands of 2014". Ohmyrockets.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Sunflower Bean Announces Debut Full-Length With Another Killer Track". The FADER. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
  14. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (29 January 2016). "Hear Sunflower Bean's Sharp, Dreamy Debut". rollingstone.com.
  15. ^ "Meet Sunflower Bean, The NYC Trio Making Retro Rock For Modern Life". Thefader.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  16. ^ "Sunflower Bean Shares Favorite Music of 2016 So Far: Must-Hear Music Podcast". Billboard.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  17. ^ "Get Into The Melancholy Groove Of Sunflower Bean's 'I Was A Fool'". Npr.org. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  18. ^ "Sunflower Bean Join Mom + Pop and Release New Song "I Was A Fool" plus Video". Momandpopmusic.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  19. ^ "Sunflower Bean Announce Twentytwo in Blue, Share Galvanizing Single "Crisis Fest"". Pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  20. ^ "Discovery: Sunflower Bean - Interview Magazine". Interviewmagazine.com. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  21. ^ "Sunflower Bean: Meet NYC's Coolest Young Band". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 May 2018. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ RIML_TV (3 March 2017). "Sunflower Bean on Records In My Life 2017". Youtube.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  23. ^ "Sunflower Bean: 2013 - Rookie". Rookiemag.com. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  24. ^ Sunflower Bean (14 April 2014). "I want you to give me enough time DEMO - Sunflower Bean (DEMO)". YouTube. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  25. ^ "video premiere: sunflower bean "tame impala"". Nylon.com. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  26. ^ "Hurtle Through Sunflower Bean's "Wall Watcher" Video". Thefader.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  27. ^ "Watch Sunflower Bean's Dreamy 'Easier Said' Video". Mtv.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  28. ^ "Watch Sunflower Bean's "Come On" Video - Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  29. ^ "Sunflower Bean unveil 'I Was A Fool' video". DIY. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  30. ^ "Sunflower Bean document Brooklyn show in new 'Crisis Fest' video". DIY. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
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