There are so many great lost venues that bands like Sunflower Bean will never get to play. The London Astoria. Leeds’s Cockpit. The OC’s Bait Shop. Fifteen years ago it was much easier for a photogenic young Brooklyn indie outfit to snaffle enough attention to graduate from sticky-floor supports to the bigger stages. This follow-up to a promising but reticent debut shows the trio won’t die wondering if they could’ve crossed over. Lead singer Julia Cumming is higher in the mix, the songwriting is sharper, and the fuzzy atmospherics have been dialled down and drums toughened up. This glittering confidence pays off on the majestic, mid-paced I Was a Fool, and the luscious, wistful Twentytwo.
Less convincing is the clean-shirt power pop of Crisis Fest, an essay on Trump’s American dystopia that’s more shallow splash than deep dive. Cumming has a bright, flexible voice that’s pleasant enough to listen to, yet sometimes fails to fully engage with the emotions expressed in her lyrics. What the album lacks is that corona of curious magic their hero Neil Young calls “the spook”. Fortunately, it doesn’t feel like it’s far away.
