This post was originally published on this site
GLARE have been on their come up for some time now, and it’s fair to say that their debut album is well overdue. At last, it arrives. Sunset Funeral is billed as “for people who don’t know how to talk about how they feel.” by guitarist Toni Ordaz. Which sums it up nicely, because more often than not, there’s little talking going on. Just feeling out sounds, falling into GLARE’s nimbus rich shoegaze.
The number one thing that jumps out during the playtime of Sunset Funeral is this element of romanticism, nothing quite feels real when you listen to GLARE. It’s full blown escapism. In which, you can do anything with, these soundscapes will mold to your will when they’re in between your ears. Mourning Haze sits somewhere between the realms of slipping off to sleep and jumping awake in a panic, and the fogginess of moments before you blindly flail for the snooze button.
Saudade may have big triumphant riffs, which have a sort of nostalgic glow to them, launching it forward, there’s a melancholy that juxtaposes that in the lyrics. It makes for a mystifying conflict of sonic and lyrical elements that epicly crash into one another. The curious chemical reaction that is fizzing throughout Nü Burn neither commits to being more nu-metal or shoegaze, becoming one and harmonising instead, but staying mean with the crumbly tone. If there was any worry that the record might lack heaviness, Nü Burn erases those worries with ease.
It affords you an opportunity to venture into made up worlds, or revisit memories, their brand of shoegaze facilitates you being able to do that. So much music these days places the listener in the artists domain, where you experience track by track by their set of rules. But, with Sunset Funeral, whilst some might disagree with the idea, you’re free to listen from front to back, side to side, jump in at any entrance you might find. Experience the sort of ethereal beauty that was in mind during its creation. There’s a brilliant freedom in resisting a purist mindset of listening to a record in the way it’s delivered to you, or looking a painting the right way up, or eating your dinner in the order it’s served. Much of which shoegaze has been policed by in the past ten years, a purist mindset. Maybe this time you should eat your dessert first.
At risk of being cliché, Sunset Funeral is laced with a certain je ne sais quoi that feels nearly impossible to grasp. By no means do GLARE breathe new life into the genres, but they do transport you to very palpable dimensions, like Sungrave’s poetic ride off into the sunset mentality. At the very least, their debut record is a gorgeous escape, at best it will ring out in your head when you fall to sleep, taking you somewhere else.
Rating: 7/10
Sunset Funeral is out now via Deathwish Inc.
Like GLARE on Facebook.
The post ALBUM REVIEW: Sunset Funeral – Glare appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
