When you hear music like Glare‘s—the wild, loose and woozy drags of guitar; the impossible beauty of it all—what kind of landscape presents itself in your mind? Vistas big enough to be forgotten in. Deserts which stretch back to the beginning of time. Infinite horizons melting into pink bokehs. It’s Texas, isn’t it?
Sunset Funeral, the band’s debut LP (out April 4 on Deathwish Inc. + Sunday Drive Records) is a fog of dreamy grief, where feeling supersedes language. On first listen, the album—which scans as vast as desert sand—may overwhelm the senses. But look closer, and you’ll find a multiplicity of heavily crushed textures, treasures.
Their latest single, “Nü Burn,” is a crunchy and lilting number that harkens back to the band’s grittier hardcore roots. But even when they deign to go hard, you can hear a softening in Glare’s sound compared to any of their previous releases, as well as an attempt to lean into more traditional pop song structures. The music drifts heavenward, to be sure, though it’s still tethered down by steady foundations. It’s beautiful. It’s humid. It’s delirious. It’s music made by people whose feelings speak louder than their words.
The band shares: “‘Nü Burn’ is about how it feels like the world stops when you’re grieving. ‘I’ll find you in a new sun, feel a new burn’ means finding those we lost in the warmth we feel… it’s a big, explosive song and probably our heaviest. When we finished writing it we immediately knew it’d be a single.”
Formed in 2017 in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, Glare aren’t so much genre traditionalists as they are painters of wide realms and intense moods. The four-piece band has already accumulated a large audience, both in the flesh with their reputation for sell-out shows, and on the internet, a place where people go to short-circuit feelings through their screens.
An album that’s been years in the making, Sunset Funeral is a document of unspeakable grief, charting the process of mourning and how it travels through our subconscious and dreams.
Pre-order Sunset Funeral here and see Glare on tour in North America supporting Superheaven this April and May.
Glare, on tour with Superheaven:
Apr. 26 Louisville, KY – Triple Crown Pavillion
Apr. 27 St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
Apr. 29 Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
May 01 Las Vegas, NV – Fremont Country Club
May 02 Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco
May 03 Berkeley, CA – The UC Theatre
May 04 Pomona, CA – The Glass House
May 06 Phoenix, AZ – The Nile
May 08 Austin, TX – Emo’s
May 09 Dallas, TX – Ferris Wheelers Backyard + BBQ
May 11 Chicago, IL – Metro
May 13 Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre
May 14 Toronto, ON – The Opera House
May 16 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
May 17 Boston, MA – Royale
May 20 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
