New York power trio Sunflower Bean perform at Gorilla, Manchester, just one week after the release of their latest album Twentytwo in Blue. The album comes just two years after their debut Human Ceremony took listeners by storm.
Twentytwo in Blue is set to be released on 23 March when all members of the band – Julia Cumming, Jacob Faber and Nick Kivlen – will be 22 years old.
The guitar band’s classic rock-inspired roots are set to shine through on the album, whilst it promises to explore new sonic textures with more direct and progressive themes. Twentytwo in Blue has been co-produced by Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Jacob Portrait (who also mixed the album) and HC-producer Matt Molnar of Friends.
The album was made in a twelve month period between December 2016 and December 2017, with Sunflower Bean keen to showcase how far the band has come since playing together in their high school days.
In anticipation of the new album and upcoming tour, including the Manchester gig at Gorilla, Sunflower Bean have shared their new single, Crisis Fest, the follow up to last year’s I Was A Fool. “This last year was extremely alarming, traumatic, and politically volatile,” explains the band about the track. “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.” They certainly don’t shy away from the political feel which has made its way on to the album, with Nick Kivlen continuing, “This has been such an unbelievable time. I can’t imagine any artist of our ilk making a record and not have it be seen through the lens of the political climate of 2016 and 2017. So I think there’s a few songs on the record that are definitely heavily influenced by this sort of—whatever you want to say what the Trump administration has been.” But the band are keen to make sure that there’s more to the album that politics. “I think one word that always comes to mind when I think about this record is lovable,” says Cumming. “We want the songs to be something that someone can get attached to, and have be a part of them. Because that’s what I look for in songs myself, and that’s the kind of experience we want to give to others.”
Where and when do Sunflower Bean headline in Manchester?
Sunflower Bean headline at Gorilla, Manchester, on 30 March. The Manchester gig is one of 12 UK dates the band is playing:
22 February – London, The Jazz Cafe
24 March – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
26 March – Norwich, Open Norwich
27 March – Birmingham, Hare and Hounds
28 March – Newcastle upon Tyne, Riverside
29 March – Leeds, Wardrobe
30 March – Manchester, Gorilla
31 March – Liverpool, The Magnet
1 April – Glasgow, Stereo
3 April – Bristol, Thekla
5 April – Brighton, Concorde 2
6 April – London, Koko
Sunflower Bean headline at Gorilla Manchester – image courtesy Hollie Fernando