Human Ceremony is a very impressive record for a band that's only been putting out music for about a year.
This is not a lazily retrogressive record however: its melodies burst with the fidgety energy of youth and ambition.
It’s unashamedly retro in parts, but feels fresh enough to sound like a modern take on the Nuggets compilations.
Human Ceremony is an instinctive record, with the band more than happy to act on an impulse. The enthusiasm of the band is infectious, always remaining grounded but delightfully exploring their own infinite limitations.
Human Ceremony is an impressive debut from a band who seem positioned to make many more excellent albums if they can continue to do such a good job of mining the past for gold and revamping it in their own fashion like they do so well here.
A psych pop record that speeds along at such an efficient clip you’d swear it was the work of a veteran act.
If there's an underground music niche that isn't in need of another poster band, it's psychedelic rock. Yet on debut LP, Human Ceremony, the Brooklyn trio wrong-foot any cynics.
Sunflower Bean have enough homegrown ability between them to draw up a series of immersing and original compositions.
Even if they're doing things that have been done before, it sounds like they're discovering these things for the first time, and that excitement is palpable on Human Ceremony.
What makes Human Ceremony so unremarkable is the sense that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of bands exactly like Sunflower Bean, playing basements and dive bars across the country.
1 | Human Ceremony 4:05 | |
2 | Come On 2:59 | |
3 | 2013 3:31 | |
4 | Easier Said 3:28 | |
5 | This Kind of Feeling 2:28 | |
6 | I Was Home 4:15 | |
7 | Creation Myth 4:56 | |
8 | Wall Watcher 2:27 | |
9 | I Want You to Give Me Enough Time 3:31 | |
10 | Oh, I Just Don't Know 1:56 | |
11 | Space Exploration Disaster 4:33 |
#12 | / | NME |
#26 | / | Rough Trade |
#28 | / | Esquire (US) |
#29 | / | The Guardian |
#34 | / | Under the Radar |
#36 | / | Dork |
#36 | / | No Ripcord |
#40 | / | Entertainment Weekly |
#41 | / | Gigwise |