Ohio-based genre-defiers Sungaze continue their run of 2025 singles with the release of “Rice Crispies,” a dream pop-shoegaze fusion of beauty and bleakness. The track showcases what Sungaze does best, lush, reverb-drenched textures, melancholic guitar melodies, and the haunting vocal interplay of founding duo Ian Hilvert and Ivory Snow.
Unlike their previous material, “Rice Crispies” is told from two distinct perspectives, the verses reflect the experience of someone witnessing a loved one struggle with addiction, while the chorus shifts into the mindset of the addicted themselves. The result is a dual narrative.
On the track, Ivory Snow has shared that the song was inspired by a lifetime of indirect brushes with addiction: “I have loved and lost many people who struggled greatly with it,” she reflects. “When I heard Ian’s instrumental for the first time, I was immediately reminded of how it felt to be small and helpless, watching as loved ones were pulled further and further down this path.”
The track is the fourth single in a thematic series that Sungaze is slowly unveiling, leading toward a new era of releases expected in 2025. It follows their acclaimed self-titled third album, Sungaze, released last year.
Fans can catch the band, Ian Hilvert and Ivory Snow and rounded out by Angela Colvin (bass), Zach Starkie and Charlie Hausfeld (guitars), and Justin Van Wagenen (drums), on the road this summer. Their tour winds through the Midwest and South, with upcoming stops in:
7/12 Fort Wayne, IN at The Bug House with Necromoon, Sundaze
*7/24 Louisville, KY at Mag Bar
*7/25 Nashville, TN at The Underdog with HORSEHELL
*7/26 Birmingham, AL at Woodlawn Theatre with No Culture
*with Tooth Lures a Fang
