MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Sunflower Bean
The Wardrobe, Leeds/Touring
“LET’S make some loud music!” hollers Julia Cumming, the first of many such exhortations from Sunflower Bean’s bassist and lead vocalist, whose volume-control button seems to have malfunctioned.
This might be a problem if the New York trio, joined by keyboard player Danny Ayala, failed to deliver on the statement of intent. Yet from opening track Burn It — all Joan Jett attitude and big rock riffs — it’s clear that they’ve outgrown their formative roots in shoe-gaze and indie psychedelia.
The swaggering beast into which they’ve transformed reflects their passage into adulthood — their 2016 debut was released when they were still in their late teens — but also how to work the stage. Reviews of second album Twentytwo in Blue have regularly cited Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac but, with the exception of that yearning number, the reference point here is Peter Green’s harder 1970s rock iteration of the band.
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