New York trio Sunflower Bean – vocalist and bassist Julia Cumming (she/her), guitarist and vocalist Nick Kivlen (he/him), and drummer Olive Faber (she/they) – today announce that their long-awaited third album Headful of Sugar will be released May 6th.
Fuelled by the agony and ecstasy of contemporary American life, Headful of Sugar is a psychedelic headrush designed to be played loud, windows down. It is about outsiders disillusioned with the modern world who, despite their alienation, refuse to be subdued; buoyed by the relief found in interpersonal relationships that counteract the daily barrage of cheap entertainment and convenience.
If their acclaimed second album Twentytwo in Blue, released in 2018, was a self-described “ode to the fleeting innocence of youth,” then Headful of Sugar shoves the listener into a new, dangerous world, one that is less safe but also less suffocating. “Tomorrow is not promised, no tour is promised, no popularity is promised, no health or money is promised,” bassist/vocalist Julia Cumming says. “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?”
Sunflower Bean also share Headful of Sugar’s opening track, the taut groove “Who Put You Up To This?” The band says of the track, “Are you satisfied? Who put you up to do things that you do? Was it your own choice? Questioning your life is the first step to taking the agency to change it. Sometimes you have to let go of who you have been so that you can become who you want to be.”
