Interview: Leeds’ Sunflower Thieves Talk Friendship, “How Was America,” and the Heavy Weight of Ghosts

Leeds duo Sunflower Thieves speak to Atwood Magazine about sisterhood, their evolving their dream-folk sound, and how they turned being ghosted by a close friend into the heavy and hauntingly beautiful new song, “How Was America.”

for fans of The Staves, boygenius, Bailen, Bon Iver

“How Was America” – Sunflower Thieves

I‘ve endured fights with my family, with my partner, with strangers, and even with my dog.

But few things have kept me up at night more than being ghosted by a friend.

To this day, I still don’t understand it, and it’s unlikely that I ever will. There was little rhyme or reason for how things happened; one day, a ten-year friendship seemingly vanished, and I had to move on with a weight in my chest and a hole in my heart. Few pains hurt like the loss of a loved one; the absences are loud, the wounds pretty raw, and their sting endures. It’s a heavy, haunting ache, and one that resonates throughout Sunflower Thieves’ latest single “How Was America” as the Leeds-based duo sing about being ghosted by a close friend, and then seeing them again some year later.

Spoiler alert: It’s not a “happily ever after” ending. How could it be, when there’s still so much left unsaid, and so much trust undone?

You look familiar
But I don’t know you
Feels like just yesterday
You’d gone
How was America?
And how’s the band?
Heard that you broke it up
That’s sad

I thought you were dead
Lying out cold
After losing your head
All these years
I’ve spent losing sleep

Independently released July 10, “How Was America” is breathtakingly beautiful and profoundly bittersweet. Sunflower Thieves’ dreamy first song of the year follows last November’s holiday single “It’s Not Like the Christmas Films,” and finds the UK duo of childhood friends Amy Illingworth and Lily Sturt-Bolshaw navigating the emotional turmoil left in a relationship’s fallout, and all the hurdles that came with it.

A former Atwood Editor’s Pick, Sunflower Thieves have been weaving wondrous dream-folk tapestries for the better part of the past six years; in featuring them and their 2022 debut EP Someone to Be There For, Atwood Magazine praised the pair for their intimate songwriting and stirring sound: “Sunflower Thieves’ sweet indie folk music is a warm balm in an often cold and unforgiving world,” we wrote. “Each of their songs resonates with the depth and passion of a diary entry – one that’s been torn from the pages of a marble lined notebook and brought to life with a tender touch and loving care.”

Radio silence
For four years and some days
I could’ve killed you
When you didn’t call
Funny when you told my friends
You were lonely
Guess you only got
What you deserved

The same can be said of “How Was America,” which finds Illingworth and Sturt-Bolshaw channeling their gently cinematic dream-folk aesthetic into a more ethereal, alt-pop environment, all while pouring out the contents of an aching, heavy heart.

“‘How Was America’ stemmed from the feeling of being ghosted by a friend, then seeing them again after a really long time, and them acting like nothing’s wrong,” Lily Sturt-Bolshaw tells Atwood Magazine. “Friendships go through all sorts of phases and feelings, but throw in some miscommunication and hurt feelings and it can make you feel crazy.”

Now you’re looking right at me
Like everything’s okay
A psychopath smile
In the corner of the room
But I miss what we were
And that’s just why it hurts

“How Was America” is the lead single off Sunflower Thieves’ upcoming sophomore EP Same Blood, set to release October 30 via Kartel Music Group. The new record promises “a good measure of grit and vulnerability” as the duo elevate and expand their craft while staying ever true to themselves and the song they’ve written. Additionally, they will be on tour in the UK this September, playing spots in Liverpool, Nottingham, Brighton, London, and Leeds – find tickets and more information here.

Atwood Magazine recently caught up with Sunflower Thieves’ Amy Illingworth and Lily Sturt-Bolshaw for an in-depth conversation about their new music, friendship, sisterhood, and ghosts (not the scary kind… well okay, yes, the scary kind). Dive into “How Was America” in our interview below, and stay tuned for more to come as they steadily roll out their Same Blood EP!

“It just really feels like us,” Sturt-Bolshaw smiles. “We didn’t write these songs to fit a certain brief or really with much thought about how they would follow on from the previous EP… They’re real stories that people haven’t heard before, and we’ve really opened ourselves up through the lyrics.”

“We just want anyone listening to take whatever they need from it. That’s what we’re all doing anyway, isn’t it?”

Now you’re looking right at me
Like everything’s okay
A psychopath smile
In the corner of the room
But I miss what we were
And that’s just why it hurts
Now you’re looking to me
To make everything okay
A broken down smile
In the corner of the room
Guess you got what you deserved

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:: stream/purchase How Was America here ::

:: connect with Sunflower Thieves here ::

“How Was America” – Sunflower Thieves

A CONVERSATION WITH SUNFLOWER THIEVES

Amy Illingworth: We’re childhood friends, who’ve grown up writing songs together. For fans of boygenius, Billie Marten, The Staves. We write about things we feel and we really like vocal harmonies.

Amy: “How Was America” depicts the feeling of being ghosted by a close friend, and then seeing them again after a really long time, and them acting like nothing is off. Friendships go through all sorts of phases and feelings, but throw in some miscommunication and hurt feelings and it can make you feel crazy. We wrote the song with writer-producer, Couros, and had so much fun exploring this narrative with him. It felt really different to anything we’d done before – grittier, more guitar-heavy, less folky – and so it felt like the perfect way to step back into releasing, and introduce the rest of the new songs. We explore the theme of friendship in other songs on this record too, so it made sense to us to introduce that with “How Was America.”

Lily Sturt-Bolshaw: All our songs are based on things we’ve felt or experienced, and this one is no different! It feels like as you grow up, the significance you place on those long-standing, close circle friendships becomes stronger, and so an experience like this can really throw you. But obviously there are two sides to every story, and maybe it’s not so significant to everyone, especially if you’re not the one that’s left behind. Maybe we’re being dramatic?

Amy: Ahh! Sorry that happened to you! It wasn’t ever really confronted – I guess if that’s how someone deals with things, they’re probably not the best person to have as a close friend.

Lily: This song came from chatting about the situation and how weird it was, and their seemingly unfazed response. Over time, you feel things less intensely than in the moment, and you can largely make peace with it, with the exception of the odd, ‘wasn’t that bizarre?’ every now and then when it pops into your head. We talked about it a lot at the time and making it into a fun song concept with Couros, to get excited about, definitely helped, haha.

Amy: At the time of writing, we didn’t really know! It was our first session with Couros, and we spent some time over coffee that morning getting to know each other and trading songs and production references before writing. We gave ourselves two days, so we could focus on lyrics/melody on the first day and then try out ideas building the track on the second day, so it was super relaxed. Couros brought a new energy to our approach to trying out sound and arrangement ideas, so when we went back to Leeds and started making the version you hear now, we tried to take that approach in with us and hold onto the eeriness we’d given the song in the writing room.

Lily: We’d been listening to a lot of Billie Eilish and Julia Jacklin at the time and felt like the dark, moody, sparseness of some of their songs would express what we were trying to achieve the best! But also, Lil is a big believer in recording everything and then cutting stuff out/bringing different sounds in and building a song like that.

Amy: It probably would have been the text that was sent. That line just came out when we were writing: “How was America and how’s the band?” The first part of that question feels big and broad, and the second more personal, but still fairly surface-level. It’s like, how do you talk to someone after all that time has passed and they’re sitting in front of you?

Lily: This was literally the first time seeing the person in four years of no contact, and a whole lifetime of things can happen within that time. It can be immediately, and overwhelmingly clear, how much someone has changed, when they are suddenly sitting right in front of you. So, it was a very raw, confusing moment which we wanted to capture right from the start of the song.

Amy: The arrangement and production in that first verse is trying to capture the distance and unease between the two people, beneath fairly conversational-sounding – yet pretty direct – words.

Amy: I really like, “how’s the band? heard that you broke it up, that’s sad.” The song comes from a place of hurt and sadness, but there’s also an element of bitterness and being unwilling to just let them back in. So this line can be taken as both genuine and sarcastic. Like, “oh yeah, I heard about that thing you loved doing so much falling apart, what a shame.”

Lily: “Funny when you told my friends you were lonely, I guess you only got what you deserved.” Feels like the most aggressive lyric we’ve ever written, I think that’s why I like that one, ha! It’s so emotionally charged and feels like a stab in the heart. I feel like it sums up the feelings of miscommunication and sadness of the song pretty well.

Amy: It’s the first from a collection of songs which is more guitar-heavy and lyrically more direct than we’ve been before. Across the EP [and beyond!], we touch on moments and concepts which can make you feel vulnerable and overwhelmed – friendship, new love, driving lessons [!!] – but that can make you feel powerful and certain.

Amy: Someone To Be There For was the beginning of us exploring – and falling in love with – co-writing, and now it feels like we’ve found our feet. The new EP is the most collaborative we’ve ever been, with songwriters, musicians and all ’round legend, Jack Hardman, on co-prod, as well in terms of visuals. The topics covered across these new songs are reflective of the ways in which we’ve become more certain of who we are individually, as we’ve grown up, and we’ve each let go of things or people along the way, when necessary, but been a constant for each other. It’s special.

Lily: I don’t know if we’ve changed all that much, but I think we’re a bit more accepting of ourselves, and less accepting of any barriers put in our way. For very new artists, there can be a lot of push and pull around labelling the kind of music you’re making to fit into a box or sacrificing certain parts of your craft in order to do things in the way someone else tells you is the right way. I think we’ve moved through that, and are more certain in the music we’re making, than we’ve ever been before, which feels so good! This means we can be bolder in what we’re making, and still be ourselves. We love these songs, and we have more ready to go post-EP.

Amy: The track the Same Blood EP takes its name from, captures the intricacies and change of pace within the closest of long-term friendships, and specifically our experience with how powerful female friendships can be, when growing up with one another. For us, this manifests itself most when we write together, through a sibling-like closeness and vulnerability. That song is like our own anthem, and was definitely the driving force behind the track listing and production for this record. The rest of the songs came together from all different directions, and at different times, with some of our favourite people to write with.

Lily: We’re going on tour! We’re bringing our band to Liverpool, Nottingham, Brighton, London and Leeds in September to play alllll of the EP tracks, before it’s out in full! We’re working on new merch specifically for these shows, and we may have some physical copies of the EP with us, who knows? Tickets are on sale for these shows now, and we’re chuffed to be bringing the incredible Marnie Glum with us.

For those who want to hear the songs before they’re out, head over to join our Patreon and you just might find what you’re looking for there.

Amy: We’ve grown up together – we’re more like siblings than friends. I think that plays into how our vocals move with each other, both live and recorded, and how we’re able to write these sorts of songs together; there’s an understanding of how each of us responds to or values certain things, and writing together gives us the opportunity to talk about each subject matter at length. We know each other too well, and it’s a lifeline. Songs based around platonic relationships have been a constant throughout our project – our last EP title, Someone To Be There For, was taken from our song, “Sirens,” which we describe as a love song for our friends.

Friendship is the most beautiful thing – it can be messy, mundane, empowering, confusing, and the thing that picks you up off the floor, and we’ve been through all that together. The Same Blood EP title is taken from another song, which is about our friendship with each other, and we can’t WAIT to release it.

Lily: It just really feels like us – we didn’t write these songs to fit a certain brief or really with much thought about how they would follow on from the previous EP. But we feel the same about this EP as we did the last – they’re real stories that people haven’t heard before, and we’ve really opened ourselves up through the lyrics.

“How Was America” feels so different to the Someone To Be There For songs [to us], and we’ve definitely had moments where we ask ourselves if we’re allowed to release a less folky song with a big instrumental in the middle, or if the subject matter is too specific to be relatable enough. We love hearing people’s interpretations of our songs or which lyrics reach out to them, and we just want anyone listening to take whatever they need from it. That’s what we’re all doing anyway, isn’t it?

Lily: There are some really exciting artists coming out of Leeds right now: Zoe Cure, Lizzie Walmlsey, Mica Sefia, Neve Cariad, and of course, Marnie Glum.

Amy: Huge shoutout to Nadia Kadek, who’s definitely about to have her moment! Also, The Howl & The Hum with their new album, and Imogen and The Knife – go and listen to “Red (is my colour).”

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:: stream/purchase How Was America here ::

:: connect with Sunflower Thieves here ::

“How Was America” – Sunflower Thieves

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🖼 © Adam Illingworth

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