I stumbled upon Sunflower Bean and their King Of The Dudes EP through Spotify. And as it played through my stereo, I'm saying to myself out loud, "More, just more. Just fucking... give me fucking more!" Listen to "Fear City" and you'll be hooked. The never ending vein-tap for femme fronted, strong vox continues.

I think the Rolling Stone interview does a really good job going through it. I'm actually surprised Rolling Stone posted on this EP. Made me happy to see that this came up on their radar. Since I can't say it better than they can, I'll just go through the tracks.

"Did I just walk in on some circle jerk shit? Just like, I knew, I would. Would would, would would would." (subtly tongue and cheek, get it?) King Of The Dudes leads with a track of the same name. You're instantly thrown back to the 80s... but the 80s with badass, underground bands. Bands that you found out about only after recently watching Valley Girl and who existed in a full sub-genre back in those days. You'll pick it up in the lyrics. Julia cuts through the crap of gender norm biases - queens as kings and probably more so, wearing leather.

"King Of The Dudes" clears the stage for "Come For Me" and "Fear City". You'll find it hard not to go back and repeat the tracks. I think it's the combination of Julia's powerful vox and Nick's perfectly-fitting riffs (and vica versa). Did you just bring an air mic up to your face? Knew you would... would would... would would would.

The EP ends with "The Big One". Many would think this track is out of place, but I consider it perfect placement. It's very-EP of them to do. [1] It's saying to the listener, "We gave you some shit you'd really like. Now, we need to let you know what we're also feeling. And you better be into it, if you want to hang with what's coming." It's almost as if they pulled a track off one of their initial demos they really liked. [2] Fits right in with the "80s badass, underground bands" thing I mentioned. Bands would do this all the time with straight up, loud songs to close EPs. [3] The opening riff is practically identical to X's, "Los Angeles". I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it's pretty obvious. That's cool, though. It's X.

Go see them. I've put Sunflower Bean on my radar to catch a show ASAP. They're currently in the UK, but they're coming back to the states to join up with the Spoon/Beck & Cage The Elephant tour beginning 11 Aug for a lot of East Coast shows. Too bad they won't be here for the Denver tour stop at Fidler's Green on 23 July. But if it works for you, check them out.

(edited 7/15/19)

Metacritic 74 | DIY 5/5 | NME 4/5 | Pitchfork 6.9 | Rolling Stone (read this too!)

Listen on Spotify