2/17/16-Cambridge, MA-Julia Cumming of Sunflower Bean performs at The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub on Feb. 27, 2016. (Mia Lambert / The Tufts Daily)
NYC’s Sunflower Bean rolled into Boston this past Saturday night for an early evening show at the Middle East Upstairs and absolutely lived up to the hype as one of the best new rock acts out there. The band, nothing short of overhyped this year for being penned as “NYC’s coolest young band” and receiving a four star review for their recently released debut record Human Ceremony would put the everlasting credibility of Rolling Stone magazine to the test. However meaningful a four star review can be these days or vague the word “cool” can be taken as, “young” couldn’t have been more accurate. The trio, all under the age of twenty one looked wide eyed and fresh faced as they wandered the club, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with excited fans before and after the show.
The show was put together by the always fringe worthy bills of Illegally Blind and began with Worcester’s Secret Lover. The four piece kicked off the evening with a surprising trip back to seventies and eighties glam rock, in a category they self proclaim as “graveyard glam.” Lead singer Sally Horowitz worked the stage with seemingly veteran show-womanship reminiscent of a bygone era of lead singers whose energy and charisma could transform an audience from that of slightly sober head bobbing to full on drunken head banging and/or thrash dance swaying. She transcended her times as she serenaded the crowd with quirky psychedelic love songs like “Montana,” about her drummer’s cat, and “Sometimes My Wine becomes My Lover” and eventually you couldn’t help but just smile and enjoy how much fun Secret Lover was to see and hear.
Up next was another NYC band Honduras whose sound and energy paired well with and continued to set up the headliner. The four piece tore through a set of garage rock stompers that was at times reminiscent of early Strokes material and when songs became somewhat extended presented hints of Parquet Courts.
By the time Sunflower Bean was transitioning between the bands shared stage set up the energy in the room seemed to be building. The nearly sold out crowd pushed closer to the front and giving less room for the noticeable scents of beer burps and farts to meddle without inevitably finding your nose. Lead singer and bassist, Julia Cumming chugged a red bull, tuned up her bass quickly and asked “how is everyone doing?” between gulps. Then she said that would be the only question of the night and the band was quickly off and running. Her wit combined with the bands quick set up into a big full sound presented a finely tuned band that without hesitation was about to steamroll through their debut album in about fifty minutes.
The album’s title track “Human Ceremony” opened the night nicely as it showed off a band that balanced out Cumming’s sweet and sultry vocals with lead guitarists Nick Kivlen’s more psychedelic echoey tones with perfect glimpses of harmonies between the both of them at times. The flange riff’s of “This Kind of Feeling” present almost prog rock vibes of Rush or a modern day Tame Impala, which is ironic because they followed up with a song named after the Australian psychedelic revivalists. Kicking off with an aggressive baseline reminiscent of Tame’s “Elephant” but twisted with Cumming’s squeaky yelp’s and Kivlin’s dreamscape vocals, something far more sinister was brought out of Sunflower Bean’s. The aggression and precision in which the Sunflower Bean plays with at times almost made them a metal power trio band that crosses over into psychedelic and dream-pop vibes instead of the vice versa descriptions they’ve been garnering. “Wall Watcher” played in the middle of their set might be the best example of all of these influences blended together and perhaps is the best example of all that Sunflower Bean brings to the table.
The band showed just how much of a raucous they could potentially cause when Cumming’s jumped into the middle of the crowd and continued to flawlessly punch out thundering baselines on “Somebody Call a Doctor” while inciting some light moshing. One could only imagine how wild this band could make a bigger crowd get on a bigger stage. Then they turned on a dime and got hazey and dreamy with songs like “Creation Myth” and their catchy melancholic single “Easier Said.”
Overall, Sunflower Bean is a band that can growl when its wants to and then melt your heart moments later. Perhaps the most impressive takeaway from their show is how sincerely talented the trio is at their instruments and craft and how this talent allows them to explore all of their influences in a cohesive manner that never seems clouded or misguided. Even though they are still out delivering debut performances for most of their audiences you already can’t help but wonder what Sunflower Bean will do next.
