Photo courtesy of Glare

When it comes to the new currents of the shoegaze revival, Glare are at the tidal of it. The Lower Rio Grande Valley band of Toni Ordaz, Cesar “Izzy” Izaguirre, and Homero Solis are a well-learned alchemy of the genre: lush, reverb-drenched ’90s reverence, heavy static cracked open by the advent storm of this millennium’s hardcore-tangent stalwarts Nothing and Whirr, and their own distinct, distant vantage point formed by a generation coming of age under the weight of grief over the past decade. It all bleeds soft and loud into our view through the vast, vivid pastel sky of sound that is their debut album, Sunset Funeral.

A joint release on the iconic hardcore and metal label Deathwish Inc. and the emotive Sunday Drive Records, it’s objectively one of scene’s best breakthroughs of 2025 that should hold up as a defining moment within the new class of nü-gazers’ because of how it so perfectly defines the present day’s all-consuming melancholic drifts of disenchantment with the occasional warm reprieve flowing through. Like a sunset, its serene and beautiful when captured in a still frame, yet there’s also a certain solemnity in realizing its reality is ultimately temporal. Still, the fade away is blissed.

There’s a lot that can be said about about where we are right now in shoegaze culture as well as Glare’s big year. +rcmndedlisten was grateful to get the opportunity to connect with guitarist Toni Ordaz to discuss the making of Sunset Funeral, creatively progressively forward and beyond once an aesthetic catches fire, being able to play live with the modern day heroes, and their road ahead.

+rl: Your earliest work had a hard, heavyweight gravity to it. Total Deathwish Inc. material. Yet, on Sunset Funeral, you’re expanding your sound beyond the obvious. Dense layers of guitars, chromatic wooziness, and hardcore breakdowns still rumble throughout the album, but songs like “Kiss the Sun”, “2 Soon 2 Tell”, and “Guts” are transcendent with a lightness that pulls you as a listener from a conscious to subconscious state within a violet atmosphere. What informs the weight of the music as you’re writing it?

Toni Ordaz: Well, from the start, we knew we wanted Sunset Funeral to have most of the qualities that we have had before in our music while also trying out new things. We wanted to have high and low points sonically that, in a way, kind of represents the theme of grief in the record. It was one aspect that gave us a sort of creative direction for this record and beyond that we really try to make things emotionally and sonically cohesive.

+rl: I saw you play at the inaugural Slide Away fest in Los Angeles last year. It was obvious to me that you had the heavy-gaze sound down pat. That rings true on tracks like “Nü Burn” and “Saudade”. We’re starting to hear some blowback on what amounts to an aesthetical trend which both critics and listeners alike are beginning to fatigue from, however. I’m of the train of thought that the cream always rises to the top, and between you and Glixen, you’re two of the best examples of this wave progressing forward. Have you begun to notice an oversaturation in the scene yourself that’s brought new challenges in your creative approach?

TO: I think it’s wonderful that people are inspired to make music, and I totally get hearing something that you really like or even love and having a moment where you think to yourself, “How do they do that?,” “What is that?,” and “I want to do something like that!,” but I think it’s so important to do things in your own way. Your own style, and I’m not saying we’re a very original band, but I do believe we stay authentic to our tastes. The creative challenge is always the same, and it’s that we want to make music that we’re proud of. 

+rl: On that note, one of the biggest stories in the world of shoegaze this past year has been the surprise return of the enigmatic Whirr, a band who absolutely has designed the blueprint behind this generation’s sound. Were you caught off guard by the release of Raw Blue like the rest of us, or did you hear some whispers about its arrival leading up to it? And how was being able to open for a band like them alongside fellow luminaries Nothing this past summer?

TO: I did hear some whispers about it — whispers with reverb. It was very fun as a fan of the band to anticipate it but not knowing when it was going to come out, so having it drop on Christmas felt very appropriate. 

Getting the chance to play with Whirr and Nothing, on the same show no less, was definitely a check off in the bucket list. I’m happy Glare got to do a couple of dates on that tour. 

+rl: You’re spending the remainder of your 2025 throughout December touring with aforementioned friends and peers in Glixen. It seems like a very fitting way to bookend a breakthrough year for both bands that saw you headlining your own tours and playing some amazing festivals. Do you think either band imagined any of this even just one year ago?

TO: Oh yes, definitely. It’s also going to be a full circle moment for me. Glixen have worked so incredibly hard and it’s a great feeling seeing your friends doing well. I’m so happy for them and I’m even happier that we get to be on the road with them again. They’re a band that inspires me to do better.

+rl: What can we look forward to from Glare in the New Year?

TO: Well, we’re planning on hitting up Florida in January and tour our way up to Boston. We have more in the works for the rest of 2026, so stay tuned.

December Tour Dates:

Glare’s Sunset Funeral is available now on Deathwish Inc. / Sunday Drive Records.