JULIA CUMMINGS, JULIA

Julia Cumming is a New York born, Los Angeles based artist best known as the vocalist and bassist for Sunflower Bean, the band she formed as a teenager with Nick Kivlen and Olive Faber in 2013. Across four albums with the band, Cumming has worked through different shades of guitar music while also maintaining a presence in fashion and visual culture. Her debut solo album, Julia, arrives after more than a decade of releasing music with the band. In a recent interview, she described the solo project as “a whole new way of interacting with the world,” while noting that Sunflower Bean remains part of how she wants to keep making music.

On Julia, Cumming shifts the focus toward piano led writing, melodic pop structures, and arrangements that pull from classic songwriting, soft rock, and studio pop. In an interview, she said that switching to piano “really opened up” her mind, and that the record began after “My Life” helped clarify the direction. Across the album’s 11 songs, Cumming follows questions of identity, memory, autonomy, and self definition. 

Julia is an album that sounds far removed from the familiar frame of her band, and anyone expecting that sound will not find it here. What they will find is a different kind of familiarity, rooted in a style of songwriting that has been with us for decades, with sharp melodies, warm arrangements, and a clear early seventies pull.