“Push the camera guys in the front row,” chuckles Sunflower Bean singer-guitarist, Nick Kivlen, as photographers beat a hasty retreat. Moments later, the audience is a heaving mass of grunge-era hair flailing, and one young lad is carried so high over the audience’s heads he can touch the venue’s ceiling.
The New York trio have made quite a splash this year with their effervescent mix of 90s indie (grunge rock and something more ethereal) and 60s psychedelia. As songs from their debut album, Human Ceremony, veer off into cosmic jams, they sound like an unlikely mix of celestial 90s indie kids Lush and summer of love-era Jefferson Airplane.
Much of the former comes from lead vocalist/bassist Julia Cumming, whose ferocious performance contrasts with the pastoral sweetness of her singing. Her new blond crop gives the sometime model a hint of the young Billy Idol, while Kivlen – all curly moptop and patterned shirts – could have stepped straight from a 60s Cream gig at the Roundhouse.
With drummer Jacob Faber thrashing away behind, the threesome make a spectacle as Cumming prowls around her bandmate, grins at the crowd and often leaps into the throng while playing. “This is such fun,” she yells as their set flits from the beautiful guitar shapes of Human Ceremony to Easier Said’s euphoric pop. Such firecrackers aside, there’s still room for sharpening in the songwriting department, but with shows like this, they will win a lot of friends.
• At Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 8 September. Box office: 0113-275 2411. Then touring until 15 September.
