Sunflower Bean are set to release their new album Headful of Sugar after a UK tour including a Manchester appearance at Strange Waves Festival.
The New York trio will release Headful of Sugar on 6 May via Lucky Number. The album is Sunflower Bean’s third full-lengther.
The album and tour come off the back of the recently released single Who Put You Up To This?
Headful of Sugar promises a psychedelic headrush fueled by the agony and ecstasy of contemporary American life. The album features their take on being outsiders disillusioned with the modern world; yet refusing to be subdued and finding relief in relationships.
“We wanted to write about the lived experience of late capitalism, how it feels every day, the mundanity of not knowing where every construct is supposed to ultimately lead you,” guitarist and vocalist Nick Kivlen says. “The message is in the title: this is about fast pleasures, the sugar of life, the joy that comes with letting go of everything you thought mattered.”
Headful of Sugar follows the Sunflower Bean’s highly acclaimed second album Twentytwo In Blue, which was released in 2018. Latest release Headful of Sugar heads towards a more dangerous world, but one which allows more freedom. “Tomorrow is not promised, no tour is promised, no popularity is promised, no health or money is promised,” bassist/vocalist Julia Cumming adds. “Why not make what you want to make on your own terms? Why not make a record that makes you want to dance? Why not make a record that makes you want to scream?”
Headful of Sugar was produced and mixed by UMO’s Jacob Portrait and co-engineered by Sunflower Bean drummer Olive Faber and Portrait.
When do Sunflower Bean perform in Manchester?
Sunflower Bean perform at Manchester’s Strange Waves Festival at the O2 Ritz on 1 April 2022. The Manchester gig is one of 11 UK dates they will play:
30 March – Cambridge, Junction 2
31 March – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
1 April – Manchester, Strange Waves Festival
2 April – Glasgow, Stereo
4 April – Newcastle, Newcastle University
5 April – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
6 April – Birmingham, Mam Roux’s
7 April – London, Electric Ballroom
9 April – Bristol, Thekla
10 April – Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
11 April – Brighton, Concorde 2
Sunflower Bean – image courtesy Driely S