Sunflower Bean’s Julia Cumming has released her latest solo single, the sweetly nostalgic ‘Please Let Me Remember This’ – check it out below.
The singer is preparing to release her first solo album ‘Julia’ on April 24 via Partisan Records and last month she gave fans their first taste of the record in the form of the reflective single ‘My Life’. Pre-order ‘Julia’ here.
With less than a month until the release date, Cumming has now shared the latest track ‘Please Let Me Remember This’, a shimmering indie pop bop that was inspired by The Beach Boys’ 1968 album ‘Friends’, and the song ‘Busy Doing Nothing’ in particular.
Cumming has said: “It started with two questions: Why are our sad and painful moments easier to remember than our happy ones? And why can’t we choose what we let go of, or what we get to keep?”
“There’s a surrender that comes with memory, and it’s always fascinated me. I wanted to create a song using these little vignettes to explore the lack of control we have over what we remember. I wanted to capture the desperation that comes with trying to turn an immaterial experience into something that could be held onto.”
Watch the video for ‘Please Let Me Remember This’ here:
According to Cumming, the album marks the start of a new chapter for her, and sees her stepping into the spotlight on her own with a reinvigorated sense of purpose. She also reveals that the album was made after a transformative three-year journey of self-actualisation and dream fulfilment, and is more of a full creative rebirth than a simple rebrand.
‘Julia’ was completed over a six-week period in Los Angeles with her collaborator Brian Robert Jones (Paramore, Vampire Weekend) and producer and engineer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio).
The singer will be playing a handful of solo shows later this spring to celebrate the forthcoming album. These kick off at Public Records in New York City on April 28, and continue at Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles two nights later (30).
From there, she will play Moth Club in London, YES in Manchester, Mikropol in Berlin and L’Archipel in Paris on May 12, 13 18 and 20 respectively. Visit here for tickets.
Sunflower Bean released their fourth album, ‘Mortal Primetime’, last year, and they spoke to NME about the record, and revealed how it came together after a tumultuous period.
“We never really even spent time apart,” says drummer Olive Faber. “I think [the tension came from] acknowledging differences for the first time and then the awkwardness that came with that, and trying to move through and keep going.” She cites those differences as “artistic” ones, and that subsequent discomfort springs from “when you do something for a long time and [don’t] really pay attention to how you’re actually feeling.”