It's a remarkable thing to witness the evolution of a rock band, especially when they grow with as much sophistication and creative maturity as
Sunflower Bean do on their third album, 2022's Headful of Sugar. The New York trio featuring singer/bassist
Julia Cumming, singer/guitarist
Nick Kivlen, and drummer Olive Faber initially garnered buzz in their teens for their punky sweet 2016 debut,
Human Ceremony. It found them drawing well-earned comparisons to classic groups like
Blake Babies and
Blondie, influences the band would continue to build upon with 2018's
Twentytwo in Blue while adding an element of righteous political outrage and twentysomething angst to their hooky sound. Once again produced by
Unknown Mortal Orchestra's
Jacob Portrait, Headful of Sugar is yet another transformative pop moment for the group, marked by a more robust alt-rock sound that evokes the planetary bombast of iconic '90s bands like
Garbage, but with their own distinctive candy and smoke flavor. It's also an album that finds them toiling with adult relationships on songs that evoke the raw feeling of driving late at night with the windows rolled down. As a singer, Cumming has really come into her own, her voice confidently swooning between warm mid-range resonance and spine-tingling falsetto. The opening "Who Put You Up to This?" is a dangerously sultry slow-burn anthem about a romantic relationship gone awry and the wisdom she's gained from the loss. Without losing any of the song's wicked drama, she manages to soften some of the harder edges of the lyrics with her angelic wail, singing "In another life I was a bitch/In another life I was your bitch/An' here's how it turned out."
Kivlen also demonstrates his burgeoning rock maturity, ripping off searing, fuzztone riffs à la
Prince and bringing a warm,
Dave Gahan-esque croon to his vocals on the moody "Beat the Odds." Equally potent moments pop up throughout Headful of Sugar as they dip into sun-dappled synth-balladry on "Otherside" and display a cogent grasp of '80s-style adult-contemporary pop on "Stand by Me." They even dive into the pearlescent disco-house of "Post Love," an infectious club moment that brings to mind
Blondie's work with
Giorgio Moroder. With Headful of Sugar,
Sunflower Bean turn the pangs of growing up into hypnotic, intoxicating pop. ~ Matt Collar