CD Odyssey Disc 1943: Sunflower Bean

Welcome to the weekend, dear readers! I have a few chores to run today and when that is done it’ll be time for some much-needed relaxation and decompressing with my lovely partner.

Before any chores, however, we must honour the hierarchy of needs, CD Odyssey style. It’s similar to Maslow’s but music comes first and so…a review before brunch.

Disc 1943 is…Mortal Primetime

Artist: Sunflower Bean

Year of Release: 2025

What’s up with the Cover? Just another night hanging out with Sunflower Bean playing Vampire: Masquerade. And if every few months someone doesn’t come home from a session, who’s to question it?

Lead singer Julia Cumming has gone from blonde to black hair for her deep dive into Gothic mystery. Regardless of hair colour, sign me up for the next gaming session. Leave my phone at home and don’t tell anyone where I am? Whatever you say, Julia!

How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan since discovering this band through their second album, “Twentytwo in Blue” and have been following their career ever since. “Mortal Primetime” is just me doing that.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Sunflower Bean records. I was very much prepared to give “Mortal Primetime” top spot but I see I scored “Twentytwo in Blue” at 4/5. Although it’s close, I’m going to honour that decision of yesteryear. That puts “Mortal Primetime” at #2, but still easily displacing the relatively disappointing “Headful of Sugar”.

Here’s the full recap in case you are inspired to a deeper dive:

1. Twentytwo in Blue: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1230)
2. Mortal Primetime: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Headful of Sugar: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1605)

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

“Mortal Primetime” is a record that straddles the line between mainstream pop and indie rock. These are two well-worn roads, and while Sunflower Bean don’t take any major chances, the record shows a band that has evolved their influences into something that belongs intrinsically to them.

Like all Sunflower Bean records, “Mortal Primetime” rides on the under-appreciated star power of lead singer Julia Cumming. Cumming has charisma to spare, and it translates into her singing voice, which is confident, emotive, and sweet with just the right amount of mist around the edges to give the record the Gothic feel it is going for.

Take note, however: if you are expecting Gothic at the Evanescence or Type O Negative, please lower your expectations and put the black lipstick away. This is more Gothic lite, with the twee observations and pop sensibilities of Rilo Kiley, mixed with the pale and wan undercurrent of an Emily Bronte novel.

Also like a Rilo Kiley album, there are a couple of songs where Julia takes a step back for a secondary singer – in this case guitarist Nick Kivlen. Like a Blake Sennett song on a Rilo Kiley album makes you pine for Jenny Lewis, when Kivlen came on I found myself immediately fidgeting while I waited for Cumming’s return. One of Kivlen’s songs – “Please Rewind” – is particularly saccharine. That phrase should be buried alongside all the VHS tapes from Blockbuster.

Fortunately, Cumming more than compensates, delivering her best vocal performance to date. The record’s opener, “Champagne Taste” has a fist-pumping anthem quality to it, and Cumming is flirty but tough in her vocal delivery. Kivlen’s guitars on this song are also top-notch (more on this later).

The band then shows their stylistic range on “Nothing Romantic”. Here Cumming’s voice is sweet, light and tinged with sadness as she sings the chorus of:

“There’s nothing romantic in being alone
I don’t wanna be the last lonely soul
Sitting at the bar drinking alone
Waiting for God to take me home”

I heard heavy overtones of Jarmusch’s 2013 vampire movie, “Only Lovers Left Alive”. Maybe that’s just me getting influenced by the cover, but that was my connection. Yours may be more mundane or personal such as a heartbreak of the more human kind (the album’s title is “Mortal Primetime”, after all). Whatever your reaction, Cumming’s evocative vocals express a human (or inhuman) longing that will get into your bloodstream.

And despite the shade I earlier threw on some of the Kivlen vocals, he is a talented guitar player with a lot of range. He can drop a rock-ready riff, a pop trill that tucks in as a perfect partner to Cumming’s vocals, and even bluesy tones when that’s needed. On “There’s a Part I Can’t Get Back” Kivlen is at his best, dropping some tones on the axe that are downright Buck Dharma adjacent. Long time readers will know this is high praise.

Overall, “Mortal Primetime” is a record that shows positive growth for the band, and a deeper understanding of what kind of music they want to make. It has less full-on pop bangers than “Twentytwo in Blue” but is arguably the more well-rounded record. A true return to form from a band that looks like they have plenty of creative juice left in the tank.

Best tracks: Champagne Taste, Nothing Romantic, I Knew Love, Take Out Your Insides, There’s a Part I Can’t Get Back

CD Odyssey Disc 1605: Sunflower Bean

For the second time in three reviews I’m parting with an album immediately after reviewing it. This is also the seventh album in the past 22 that has met a similar fate which I think shows I need to be more discerning with what I purchase. Or maybe I’m just on a rough streak.

Disc 1605 is…Headful of Sugar

Artist: Sunflower Bean

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  The band hangs out down by the power station. Lead singer Julia Cumming is in the foreground looking cold, likely on account of those leather shorts she’s wearing.

How I Came To Know It: I really liked the band’s previous album, 2018’s “Twentytwo in Blue” (reviewed back at Disc 1230). Ordinarily I would have given this record a listen before purchasing but I saw it in the store and decided to buy it on a whim.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Sunflower Bean albums. Of the two, “Head Full of Sugar” is easily the worst. That makes it #2, and not in the good “silver medal” kind of way.

Ratings: 2 stars

“Headful of Sugar” feels like Sunflower Bean spent their summer vacation digging through their parent’s CD collection looking for inspiration. They find plenty of it, but whatever magic sparked their imagination is mostly lost in the translation. Instead we get a record with a few too many styles, none of which feel original.

When I reviewed “Twentytwo in Blue” I also commented on the multiple eras of music the band explores. Then it was sixties and eighties, and on “Headful of Sugar” they add the late nineties/early oughts to their repertoire. The result is a busy loudness that overpowers a lot of what made the previous record great.

The worst offender is “Roll the Dice” where they embrace the loudness wars of yesteryear, with plenty of crunch, fuzz and thump but very little to hold your attention once you strip away all the bells and whistles. Also, it takes a lot of effort to strip away those bells and whistles. The whole record suffers from this saturation of production, and even when they do strip it away for the bridge it is clunky pop radio artifice; a card trick where you can see the magician pulling the aces out of his sleeve.

“Stand By Me” has a structure like early Madonna, which is a sound I have learned (after a very long time and a lot of denial) to love. The song is buoyed by Julia Cumming’s voice, which is well suited to this bubble gum whimsy. You can see her riding in a convertible, her hair pulled up under a kerchief, girlishly flirting with the camera. It almost won me over, but at least didn’t annoy like some of the tracks.

“Baby Don’t Cry” sounds like Garbage. I mean the band here, but it strays close to the lower case ‘g’. It is a song that feels like teens should be dancing to it at the Bronze, right before a vicious vampire assault. Those songs were passable while watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but they are very hit and miss away from that environment, and so too is “Headful of Sugar.”

The most maddening thing about this record is that it still has an undercurrent of what makes “Twentytwo in Blue” such a good record, but they’ve drowned it in production. It has also gone from paying playful homage to earlier eras and instead crossed over into Gestetner territory – a true copy, but in a lighter, bluer colour palate, smudged at the edges with too much ink.

I never got properly angry at this record, but I did get fidgety, and despite a long day I made a point of finding time to write this review so I could move on. I will be passing this album to someone who will enjoy it more than I did.

Best tracks: Who Put You Up to This?, Otherside

CD Odyssey Disc 1230: Sunflower Bean

I am at the front of what is promising to be a delightful long weekend. Today I got things kicked off with brunch with the #1 love of my life (Sheila), and then went shopping for the #2 love of my life (music). It was a good day at the CD store where I came away with a treasure trove of new albums, and one disappointment. A quick recap – full details to come in a forthcoming review.

• Cub’s “Betti-Cola”. I bought this because Neko Case plays drums on it, which is kind of cool. (1993)
• Doug Paisley’s “Starter Home” (2018)
• Mandolin Orange’s “Tides of a Teardrop” (2019)
• Lula Wiles’ “What Will We Do” (2019)
• Joe Jackson’s “Look Sharp (1979)
• Gang of Four’s “Entertainment! (1979)

I also thought I had bought Delinquent Habits’ first album, but the disc inside was not the correct album so I’ll be returning that tomorrow.

More on those records when I roll them. OK – on to the review!

Disc 1230 is… Twentytwo in Blue

Artist: Sunflower Bean

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? The band, channeling different eras. From left to right Julia Cumming looks like a twenties socialite, Nick Kivlen looks like a sixties mod and Jacob Faber has opted for early eighties douchebag.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review of this album somewhere and even though it didn’t sound like my usual kind of music, I decided to check out their single, “Twentytwo”.  I fell into them from there.

How It Stacks Up:  I only have this one album, so there is nothing to stack it up against.

Ratings:  4 stars

When I bought “Twentytwo in Blue” I expected it to be the only Sunflower Bean album in my collection, but over the past couple of days this record has so thoroughly charmed me that I am going to have to go listen to their other releases and give them another chance.

Sunflower Bean is a trio from New York that plays a mix of guitar rock and dream pop. While the production is very 2018, with layers upon layers of crisp sound, the music feels heavily influenced by many musical eras, notably early sixties crooners and late eighties pop.

When the band rocks out, as they do on songs like “Burn It” and “Human For,” they don’t deliver much crunch, but that isn’t what they are going for. It is more of eighties punk crossed with late sixties Who. It doesn’t have a lot of bottom end in it, but it doesn’t lack for energy.

When they play a bit lighter is when they really shine, with songs that whirl whimsically about and make you feel like you are strolling through an English garden or maybe at a high school dance in an eighties romantic comedy. The songs have a dreamy quality, but they don’t fuzz out like so much dream-pop does, instead staying crisp and organic.

Both Julia Cumming and Nick Kivlen sing, but Cumming is the star of the show. Her voice sounds innocent and sweet, with just the right amount of sadness around the edges. She also has a lot of range, with a rich tone in her lower register and an airy angelic quality when she climbs up into her head voice. These songs seem simple and carefree in her hands, but they are a lot harder to sing along to than you’d expect. Believe me, I tried.

The album’s crowning jewel, “Twentytwo” is Cumming at her best. She puts her combination of innocence and experience to good use on a coming of age song that is an exploration of what young adults expect of one another, what society expects of them, and the tension that exists between these expectations.

Kivlen’s vocals are not nearly as revelatory, but the band wisely uses his light, slightly raspy delivery as either background accompaniment or as the occasional foil to Cumming, rather than her equal partner. He gets his best moments on “I Was a Fool” trading verses with Cumming, trading gentle and rolling melodies on a song that had me thinking of Fleetwood Mac in their prime.

Thematically, the album feels very young. I was reminded of the combination of uncertainty and optimism that exists in your early twenties. “Memoria” is about lost love, and “Crisis Fest” is a song that is part-lament for the state of America and part call to action. It’s also catchy as hell, with sing-along protest lines and the mother of all participation decisions in music – the handclap!

The album fades a little on Side Two, with songs that are a less catchy and more atmospheric than Side One but they also serve as a pleasant fade-out to the record, leaving you with a sort of echo of the good time you had, like a good sleep after a long day at the beach.

Another minor quibble was the album’s liner notes, which are printed in blue on a black background and utterly unreadable. The lyrics are all there – I assume – but the colour combination and the use of what I assume is some font in 6 point makes it hard to be sure.

Earlier this year I shared my top ten albums of 2018 and while “Twentytwo in Blue” didn’t make the cut, I think it is fair to say it lands at #11.

Best tracks: Burn It, I Was a Fool, Twentytwo, Crisis Fest, Memoria, Only a Moment