Listen to the full interview with Sunflower Bean on WSUM's Soundcloud page here!
(photo taken by Karolina Barej)
“These guys are timeless”
A thought that looped repeatedly, like a broken record, during my interview with Long Island & Manhattan psych rock trio Sunflower Bean. Since their 2015 EP release, ‘Show Me Your Seven Secrets' and 2016 launch of their first full album, guitarist Nick Kivlen, drummer Jacob Faber, and bassist Julia Cumming are gaining momentum.
‘Human Ceremony' is a physical representation of how raw power, moxie, and skill of signature rock relives in young artist zeal. In many ways, the 20 year olds exemplify old-soul charm by embodying sounds that resonate with psych rock glory days of the 60's and 70's. Yet the Sunflower Bean sound remains entirely their own. It's authentic and new. Both their sound and style stand out in among the current pools of alternative and DIY music.
(photo taken by Karolina Barej)
I first met Kivlen, Faber and Cumming after their concert in Madison last October. They opened for DIIV and were accompanied by Canadian shoegazer, No Joy. The crowd was completely transfixed by the vision of the three emitting their dynamic energy. “Who are these kids?!” It was the first time many heard Sunflower Bean and one set wasn't enough.
Six months later, I am sitting with the trio in the back of their unpainted Mystery Machine stuffed with road-trip snacks. Since opening for DIIV's 2015 tour, Sunflower Bean has released a new album, ‘Human Ceremony', and headlined their own shows while touring across Western Europe, between United States coasts and for special events such as SXSW.
“By the end of this section of our tour we'll have played 56 shows in 67 days” remarks Cunningham. An accomplishment that is almost uncanny for any aspiring artist now a days. It's hectic a schedule, but an essential endeavor for the touring artists.
And this is just the beginning.
Sunflower Bean will be debuting at many festivals this year including Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo. Rolling Stone and NME have already bookmarked Sunflower Bean as 2016's “ones to watch”.
For a multitude of reasons, the band is falling on everyone's radar.Kivlen, Faber, and Cumming are perpetuating sounds from the 70's – some fast, dark, melancholy and whimsical. In my attempts to described their hypnotic blend, Faber clarifies,
“I think we definitely have our own sound. We definitely draw influences from the past 50 and 60 years of rock music and we have a lot of different favorites among us…but we definitely use that as influence and try to make our own sound”.
Loud and soft. Sweet and sexy. Controlled and loose. Young and mature.
Desirable combinations that appeal to generations of ears. Better yet, the Sunflower Bean sound can be blasted, allowing listeners to easily escape in it or throw their heads with it. Even after their recent launch of ‘Human Ceremony', its evident the young artists are inspired and itching to create more. Kivlen doesn't seem to seize his exploration for new songs; his guitar glued to his hip and his fingers to its strings. Cumming also confirms their apprehension to begin writing again.
“We are excited to make another record and it's hard since we are always traveling. We don't get that much time to write. We have all these ideas and we can't execute them yet”.
As a top-charting album for college radio in the weeks after the 2016 album release, many are anxious about the future that awaits Sunflower Bean. They are at the brink of explosion, yet the artists remain completely humble and reserved about their music success.
“The shows feel good, but that's the only thing that feels trackable” Cumming adds.
Their shows, with a majority selling out, are a true display of stamina and skill. This is where Sunflower Bean's passion radiates.
(photo taken by Karolina Barej)
Stepping into The Frequency on April 6th, one would have found him/herself entering a romanticized rock scene daydream, by seeing a young Bob Dylan (Kivlen) meticulously playing guitar as a John Bonhman (Faber) carries a manic beat and a young Kim Gorden's (Cumming) vigorously plucks her bass. When asked about their favorite song to play, Kivlen was quick to answer “Space Exploration Disaster”. As did Cumming,
“It has a lot, near the end. I don't want to give everything away, but we do a lot of improvising and those are fun for us…the stuff that's set in stone is cool but the stuff we are able to move around a lot with is even more exciting, so I think that's a song (“Space Exploration Disaster”) that we really let it go”
And they did. Cumming and Kivlen facing off, bass and guitar, feeding each other chord patterns and building a suspenseful, accelerating arrangement. Faber, completely submerged in the game, not even expressing a need for a breath of air. A surprise in the performance was when Cumming stepped of the stage, dancing with her bass and circulating Sunflower Bean's addictive energy to the audience. The crowd, amused, and as were Sunflower Bean, each of them smiling at the stunt.
“It's pretty hard to think about doing anything else” Faber mentioned during the interview. After watching this performance, no one would dare to question why.
(photo taken by Karolina Barej)
