Glixen’s new single ‘Unwind’ – out this Friday (February 20) – channels the kind of brooding angst that defined a whole generation of alt-rock superstars. Sludgy guitars wash over the listener before a looming dread cuts through in Aislinn Ritchie’s ghostly vocals as she sings: “I will disappear tomorrow / Feel the rush of you.” It’s a seismic shift from the band’s blissful earlier releases, which shimmered with carefree optimism.
This alteration encapsulates the recent experiences of the Phoenix, Arizona four-piece. “We’ve been through it as a band over the last three years, and the ups and downs that come with life in a touring band,” vocalist and guitarist Ritchie muses as she and her bandmates video call NME from their respective homes.
Since forming in 2020, Glixen have hit the road hard. They’ve opened for US indie royalty like Interpol and Diiv, and made appearances on huge festival stages like Coachella. But while their commitment to touring has brought them an expanding fanbase and many more streams, it’s also not without its challenges. “It feels crazy coming home and adapting to life again,” Ritchie explains. “It’s hard to feel stable, so it’s not surprising the music feels darker.”
Considering that shoegaze has long been a genre rooted in escapism and emotional release, it’s no wonder their music reflects some of that upheaval. Their demanding live schedule has gradually – and subconsciously – pulled their more recent material into slightly darker territory, something that can be heard across last year’s second EP ‘Quiet Pleasures’, specifically on tracks like the haunting and scuzzy ‘Lick The Star’.
Feeling – whether positive or negative – has always been central to Glixen’s music. When they first started playing together, their sound was lighter, brighter. “I was just in a daze, dreamy and happy,” Ritchie explains of that time. “I loved my band and all of my friendships; it just felt like a really good time in my life, and that shines through in the songwriting.”
Ambition, too, is one of the four-piece’s core tenets. They came together after Ritchie and her then-housemate, guitarist Esteban Santana, outgrew Dovi, the dream-pop project they were in together. “We had a lot of fun in Dovi, but we were just teens on the skate scene, and in the end, we had different outlooks,” the singer explains. “I wanted to scale up and take things more seriously. With Glixen, I made it very clear that I want to take this as far as we can and that sacrifices are going to have to be made.”
You can hear that ambition in the band’s 2023 breakthrough single, ‘Splendor’. Led by Santana’s murky distortion, it instantly echoes the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive as dreamy vocals meld with fuzzy guitars, Ritchie’s spiralling pop vocal cutting through the din: “I’m just a girl who likes / All the pretty things in life / All the pretty things that shine / I appreciate your time”.
With Ritchie’s long-time friends, Sonia Garcia on bass and Keire Johnson on drums, by their side, writing that song and the whole of their debut EP, ‘She Only Said’, was a game-changing moment for the band. “It was crazy hearing it back for the first time,” Santana recalls. “It was a level up on what we’d done before because we recorded it in a professional studio. I always wanted to just turn my amp up really loud and immerse myself in this dreamy landscape.
“It feels hard to be promoting music while the world feels on fire, but the hope is that someone can find solace in what we do” – Esteban Santana
Much like their influences – which include contemporary noise-rock greats Nothing and more classic heavyweights like Smashing Pumpkins – the band hope that listeners can lose themselves in their dreamy soundscapes. “It feels hard to be promoting music while the world feels on fire,” offers Santana, “but the hope is that someone can find solace in what we do, no matter what they’re going through. It’s my own outlet of escape, so hopefully the listeners can take that too.”
As a band operating in an alternative sonic stomping ground that hasn’t historically been particularly diverse, Glixen also hope to be the heroes for young musicians and music fans they were lacking while growing up as kids on the skate scene in Phoenix. “It’s such an emotional feeling sometimes,” Garcia says as she pauses to consider the band’s impact as a POC group. “It makes you want to cry when you’re onstage and see teenage girls who look like us.” Ritchie adds: “I’ve always wanted to see someone who looks like me up onstage rocking out.”
For Johnson, some interactions with young fans pull him back to his own youth. “It’s one of the most profound things I’ve experienced out on the road,” he explains. “Some little Black kid will come up to me and go, ‘Yo, I play drums now because of you.’ It reminds me of myself growing up. I was obsessed with old videos of Bad Brains performing – I wanted that energy, and I grew my hair out to be like [vocalist Paul D. Hudson].”
The coming months will see Glixen provide solace and inspiration for many around the world, with North American and Japanese headline tours on the cards, and an appearance at Manchester’s Outbreak Festival. They’ll also begin working on their debut album – a long-awaited record that they’re trying to take in their stride.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on it,” Ritchie says. “These next songs are very Glixen already. There’s definitely a sensuality to the music, but then an ethereal quality as well. I just want to enjoy it in the moment and truly indulge in the fact that we’re going to be in the studio recording.”
“I feel like this next record is going to move us out of the box as just a shoegaze band,” adds Johnson. “It won’t be too far from that, but hopefully there’ll be a few elements that defy expectation and people [will be] surprised.” Santana echoes this: “We just let our imagination run wild in the studio, and there are so many possibilities. It will feel like the culmination of the last six years and the journey we’ve been on.”
Given that they’ve already forged deep connections with audiences through this expansive, world-building approach, you can’t help but feel that by learning from noise-rock’s many trailblazers, Glixen are already writing their own vital chapter in the genre’s illustrious history.
Glixen’s ‘Unwind’ is out on February 20.