Blue, as Julia Cumming of Brooklyn’s Sunflower Bean points out, is something of a “loaded color.” The word is of course often synonymous with sadness—certainly blues music isn’t known for its laughs. But it's also the "emotional color" of the band's upcoming, sparkling second album, Twentytwo in Blue. “We definitely don’t want it to come across as a sad record,” explains Cumming. “Blue is kind of hopeful, and we wanted to explore that color with this record.” The new record by vocalist and bassist Cumming, drummer Jacob Faber and guitarist and vocalist Nick Kivlen is many things: rousing, romantic, topical, empathetic and insightful. But defeatist it’s not. All three band members will in fact be 22 when Twentytwo in Blue is released in March of 2018, almost two years and two months after Sunflower Bean’s hazy, charming debut LP, Human Ceremony. They were two momentous years in which the trio toured the world several times over and grew in accomplishment, discovering a newly confident voice they bring to the second album, one that doesn’t shy away from the political changes and cultural shifts that have left America and the world stupefied. “This has been such an unbelievable time,” says Kivlen. “I can’t imagine any artist of our ilk making a record and not have it be seen through the lens of the political climate of 2016 and 2017." While Sunflower Bean remains a guitar band at its core, new and gentler textures were welcomed this time around. “What we’ve figured out since Human Ceremony is that we did a lot of the rock stuff, and this time it just felt right to explore the sweeter side, and dive deep into that," says Faber. For her part, Cumming is truly singing like never before, on the sublime “Memoria” and “Only a Moment”. "I think before I was a little afraid to show myself as a singer, even to my band mates," she says. "I think if anything, after making this we’re the most well-rounded we’ve ever been.” If there was a ragged beauty in the gauzy, groovy wall of sound of Human Ceremony and its predecessor, the 2015 EP Show Me Your Seven Secrets, there’s a new directness to these songs, a product of Sunflower Bean’s own maturity and the insanity of the times we’re in. Twentytwo in Blue is a record made by millennials in solidarity with their own—the most progressive, even revolutionary generation we’ve ever seen. “I think we all really want the record to be lovable," says Cumming. "I want the songs to be something that someone can get attached to. Because that’s what I look for in songs myself, and that’s the kind of experience we want to give to others.” 

Share the present and bolster the light… Born in Boston and matured in Brooklyn NY, GIFT’s music bubbles with nostalgia and psychedelic pastiche. The swirling blend of GIFT’s lysergic cocktail conjures bright impressions of NEU! and Stereolab, while staying true to the sweeter pop sensibilities of Revolver-era Beatles. GIFT’s sound is striking and distinguished; marked by hypnotic musical mantras and effervescent synths spun against shining sun-kissed guitars. GIFT is the expression and embodiment of a surreal and momentary ideology-- that we are here, present in the present, immersed in a waking moment that is shared by all GIFT released their well received debut single “Strange” a week before a global pandemic, a serendipitous event given the themes of the song: finding the light in times of darkness. GIFT’s work has continued in the home studio since, with a fully fledged debut album slated for release in 2022.

Slow Fiction is a band from New York City. Influenced by the likes of poets like Anne Waldman, Ted Berrigan and the New York School era as well as the spirit of early 2000s garage rock bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, and The Walkmen, the group delivers a blend of their influences and personal experiences in a raw and memorable way. Through Craigslist ads and mutual friends, the band first joined forces at Julia Vassallo’s East Village apartment. In what is now considered their first official band meeting, they sat in a circle with their guitars while Julia plucked out the bittersweet song “Brain Protection Agency”. Since that day, they’ve considered themselves a band. Their first demos, which reside on Bandcamp, were recorded live in May 2021, and launched the band into a summer and fall of playing shows throughout New York. These tracks serve as proof that even at an infantile stage, the members of Slow Fiction were meant to make music together. Slow Fiction’s first official studio releases are slated for early 2022.   Julia Vassallo: vocals  Joseph Skimmons: guitar Paul Knepple: guitar Ryan Duffin: bass Akiva Henig: drums