Song Spotlight: Sunflower Bean's Nothing Romantic

I will admit I was a bit late to get on the Sunflower Bean band wagon. It took a pandemic for me to finally in love with the band (though I'd heard of the band maybe a year or two prior to that). The band played an online set on the Dr. Martens' Instagram page. The song I really appreciated was "Twentytwo." You can read my brief thoughts about that online set here. 

Sunflower Bean at the Lodge Room

I finally got to catch a live set in October 2024 at Zebulon. You can ready that US Rocker Music review here. Flash forward less than a year and I got another opportunity to catch the band. This time it was at the Lodge Room and you can read that review here. The band was in the middle of a North American tour to promote their fourth album Mortal Primetime. 

I took a listen to the album prior to heading out as I knew I wanted to write a NFV Song Spotlight to a song in addition to my US Rocker Music review. I found myself writing down numerous songs from the album that I thought would be good songs to mention here: Champagne Taste, Nothing Romantic, I Knew Love, and Take Out Your Insides. If you've listened to the album, you know that I had a real preference for their rock ballads. The back to back tracks of "I Knew Love" and "Take Out Your Insides" had me in an emotional state. 

Sunflower Bean at the Lodge Room

One interesting thing I should mention about the concert is my observation of a group of friends prior to the start of the concert. As always, I got to the venue at around 6:50 p.m. Since the venue gives priority to press, I was the first one in the venue. I took a spot at the front of the stage, just off to the side. Honestly, that was a mistake. I should have taken a spot on the other side of the stage. Oh well, it is a coin flip when there isn't a photo pit and the venue is so packed that you can't easily move from one side to the other side. Four young people soon joined me at the front of the stage. From what I overheard they were between the ages of 19 - 21. TMI. I almost laughed out loud when I heard one of them tell a friend that she needed to calm herself down or she'd get an urgent need to head to the bathroom. I also found it interesting that at least one of them attempted to get her dad to come out with her. They must have a close relationship.

Sunflower Bean at the Lodge Room

Since I already highlighted "I Knew Love" in my official review, I obviously needed another song to consider for this blog post. "Take Out Your Insides" was scratched off as a potential focus as it wasn't on their setlist. That left a choice between "Champagne Taste" or "Nothing Romantic." "Nothing Romantic" wins out, because as mentioned above I have a soft spot for their rock ballads from the album. 

There's nothing romantic in being alone
I don't wanna be the last lonely soul
Sitting at the bar drinking alone

Those lyrics. They're self-explanatory and strike the heart strings with the simplicity and directness. Lead singer Julia Cumming lays her heart bare in her vocals. It was the "final" song of the night. Cumming sang the last words, "There's nothing romantic in being alone." The word "alone" was drawn out and lingered out there until she needed a breath of air. She then just stood there as still as one could get, just staring out into the crowd, breathing in the cheers of the audience. Her bandmates exited the stage and she still stood there.

Sunflower Bean at the Lodge Room

Another audience observation. I was off to the side of the venue when "Nothing Romantic" was performed (I don't want to just take photos from the front of the stage all set long). There were two guys standing against the wall. As soon as the song ended, one friend started to head towards the exits. The other friend was hesitant. I knew what he was thinking: is there an encore or not? I saw him struggling with his decision. Anyways, I had seen the setlist so I told the guy, "There's an encore."  

Two of the band members (Nick Kivlen and Cumming) have moved to Los Angeles (I believe they've lived here for the last year). I will admit I got suspicious that at least one of them had moved when I saw Cumming in Nov 2024 at the Zebulon, hanging out to catch Tashaki Miyaki (which was one of two openers for Sunflower Bean at the Lodge Room). Admittedly, it was a Saturday night and maybe she just wanted to hang out in Los Angeles over the weekend, but there was speculation in my mind.

Sunflower Bean setlist: Champagne Taste, Lucky Number, Teach Me To Be Bad, Who Put You Up To This?, Look What You’ve Done to Me, Easier Said / Somebody Call a Doctor, Twentytwo, I Knew Love, There’s A Part I Can’t Get Back, Sunshine, Nothing Romantic. Encore: Shake.