“Music to yearn to”. That’s the answer you’ll get when asking lead members Ivory Snow and Ian Hilvert to describe their project. The Sungaze sound is cinematic, comforting, and warmly nostalgic. Like stepping into a memory or being wrapped in a sonic journal entry. 

Not ones to shy away from life’s harder moments, their songs often explore the heavier themes of grief, chronic health concerns, mental struggles, and more. While unafraid to delve into the depths, Sungaze are equally gifted when it comes to rising above. They manage to keep a level of lightness and brevity even within the dark–to find the silver lining.

Such is to be expected from a band that would not exist without loss. It was the death of her father that sparked the chain of events that would lead Snow and Hilvert to meet at last, after years of living parallel lives; their paths dancing around one another but never twining together. Until they did. 

The fated meeting took place at Snow’s going away party on the eve of the cross-country move she was set to embark upon in search of a fresh start. Hilvert visited Snow a week later, and the next month found the two sharing an apartment together back home in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Unbeknownst to the duo at the time, each was a piece of a puzzle the other had long been trying to complete. Snow had harbored dreams of becoming a singer since she was a young child watching her father’s band practices with her forehead pressed against the railing of the basement steps. A dream she had thought she laid to rest alongside him. Hilvert had spent his teen years writing and performing in a plethora of punk and metal bands, but always felt something was missing. He yearned for a girl to share his life and music with; a musical counterpart. 

A few years into their relationship, Hilvert grew tired of the metal scene. He opted to leave his longtime metal band in the pursuit of something new, something softer. He recruited Snow, who had spent the last few years as a live music photographer, to be the temporary keyboardist of the new project. When she spontaneously recorded (and “forgot” to delete) some vocals on Hilvert’s open Garageband session while home alone, both were later surprised to find she could, in fact, sing. The two quickly began writing collaboratively and the project took on a new shape, slowly growing into the soaring, emotional powerhouse it is today.

Hilvert and Snow have remained the primary songwriters throughout the years, their unique chemistry lending itself to the creation of songs that feel intrinsic and lived-in; as if they have been carried around in your chest long before you ever heard them. Snow’s voice and Hilvert’s guitar work mirror the couple’s nature as musical counterparts, with the two winding and weaving in and out of leads and melodies, each a narrator in its own right. Live, Hilvert and Snow are joined by four of their closest friends including Snow’s sister Angela Colvin on bass guitar, Zach Starkie and Charlie Hausfeld on rhythm guitar, and Tyler Collier on drums. 

With three independently released albums under their belt, Sungaze have slowly carved a lasting name for themselves in the indie/alternative space.