New York indie rockers Sunflower Bean almost broke up after touring behind its experimental 2022 album Headfull of Sugar. All three band members spent time on other projects, and guitarist Nick Kivlen moved to California. Instead, Kivlen and bassist Julia Cumming wrote new songs on separate coasts and the trio reunited in Los Angeles to record Mortal Timeline.
The new album is the band’s first self-produced release and was recorded in live sessions. Sunflower Bean has always been a genre-defying act, molding various influences from rock and pop into its eclectic sound. While previous albums had an almost 50/50 split of aggressive rockers and dreamy pop tracks, Mortal Timeline is a bit softer and more vulnerable. That includes Cumming’s vocals, which are more subdued, as if belting the words would add an unwanted distance.
Some great rock moments bookend the album. “Champagne Taste” is a party rock song with a nasty alt-rock guitar sound. “You look good in my head, even better in my arms,” Cumming sings like a bad pickup line.
But in “Nothing Romantic,” she sings about loneliness while drinking alone in a bar. “I used to think my suffering made me immortal; heartbreak was a portal to my honesty,” she sings in a soft verse that bursts into an aggressive rock chorus. It’s also one of the songs where the band explores spiritual themes. “Waiting for God to take me home when the devil said heaven is closed,” she sings.
The album ends with Cumming and Kivlen singing in breathy vocals about a desire to escape. “Don’t wake me now, ‘cause I’m dreaming of you,” they sing, their voices drowned out by droning shoegaze fuzz. “When I’m older, I’ll drive my car off the 405. What a perfect Hollywood, California way to die.”
Between those heavy rock songs are softer indie pop songs built around shimmering guitar arpeggios and catchy melodies. In the heartbreaking “There’s a Part I Can’t Get Back,” Cumming opens up about a childhood trauma that continues to haunt her. “I work ‘til I can’t feel the pain. I still hear the way you said my name, though I don’t want to,” she sings over reverb-soaked guitar and gentle strumming. Cumming is startlingly vulnerable as she wrestles with various emotions, at times questioning why it happened. “I’d ask you what you saw in me, a child who just wanted to be free—free from you.” At other times, she gets understandably angry. “If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord lets me get even first.”
The song is a gut punch, even though the pain is hidden behind bright melodies. Even the bleakest songs have a gentle beauty, such as the acoustic ballad “Shooting Star,” in which Cumming questions what she brings to a relationship. “You know it feels so good together,” she says, before getting defensive. “Do you really want a piece of all this pain?”
Kivlen also works through some issues on the album, singing about disintegrating friendships on “Waiting for the Rain” and depression on “Please Rewind.” “I feel guilty about the days that I wake up and look at the clock, waiting for them to be over,” he sings.
Sunflower Bean has always been equally able to channel punk attitude, classic rock riffs, and retro pop melodies. Mortal Primetime is the band’s softest album and has less dynamic intrigue than Headfull of Sugar. It’s focused more on storytelling and pop hooks than on in-your-face rock. It’s an album more about the stories than the licks, though there are still enough distorted guitars and driving rhythms for the rock fans.
