Sunhaze, by Robert Alleyne
Sunhaze (photo: Robert Alleyne)

Danae and Priscilla feed off one another’s energy. Danae is the lead singer, and Priscilla the keyboard/synth player of the five-piece band Sunhaze, purveyors of indie-pop surf-R&B. Their music is a mixture of styles and different influences. It's a jigsaw created from music each member likes to make, forming a picture you can’t quite describe but feel increasingly drawn to.

We settle down to talk to about their music, and I ask about the year that was. Danae enthusiastically replies that it was “busy and exciting!” Priscilla takes a more muted tone and settles on the year being a “full experience.” The 'busy and exciting' part of the last year was releasing their debut LP, Wishful Thinking. The band recorded the album at San Francisco’s historic Different Fur Studios with the help of Sean Paulson. Danae remembers the time fondly: “Recording at this awesome place, with awesome people who are just as passionate about noise that we are. It was sick!” As a band, Sunhaze wanted to invest the time and money needed to make the album the best it could be.

This culminated in 10-hour sessions, spanning 10 days on consecutive weekends. It was a grueling recording timetable to fit in alongside full-time work schedules.

Sunhaze, by Robert Alleyne

The first single they released from the album, Always You, is a prime example of the clashing of styles and sounds that run through Sunhaze’s music. Outwardly, it has a West-Coast indie style to it, with heavy undertones of R&B and vocal pop. Playfully melodic guitars swirl around while Danae’s vocals rest in between other instruments to soothe everything going on around it. This mixture of sounds is what drew me to the band initially (and led that particular song to be one of my top 10 most streamed tracks of 2016).

When I ask how the release went, there is a small pause to reflect before Priscilla responds, “a little bit underwhelming...It was busy and challenging, a lot of good experiences, but also with that comes some bad experiences.” This was their first time dealing with PR and the expected push from a firm, after investing personal savings, which Danae confesses was not easy as a local band, and did not materialize as they thought it might have.

The band also disagreed with their PR agency over videos at various points in the year. They were advised to shelve the "Always You" video for being too ‘cute.’ The second video they shot, for single "Buddy," hit a long line of barriers as writers got backed up over Halloween, Thanksgiving and then the holidays. “The video itself is a lot darker,” shares Danae. “It's very Halloween... it would have been perfect in October!” she emphatically chuckles (since our interview both videos have been released— Buddy", "Always You").

As we discuss the challenges of the album release, I never sense any anger or disappointment. It seems like the fleeting moment of fragility when you know you’ve done a great job, but you can’t quite find the missing piece to make everything sync together.

Sunhaze, by Robert Alleyne

All the highs, lows, trials, and exaltations of the last 12 months appear to have made both Danae and Priscilla more confident, more determined, and they do not seem to have lost any of the love or passion for the music they’ve had since they first started making it together. They are already thinking of how to build from the record they released in the fall: “It would be nice to grow into a thing where it is more than just love and heartbreak, and just life at this point now,” shares Priscilla.

Life has a way of dictating new challenges, and Danae is using these events as a cathartic inspiration. “So much has happened to me in the past year; friend passing away, Trump getting elected,” says Danae, “I have found myself writing more deeply about other things.”

“[I am] definitely taking into account a lot of the shit that has happened during the past year. And I even I told my boyfriend, 'You know this next project is not gonna be about you,'” says Danae. She goes on to speak about her desire to pull together all her emotions, stories, and experiences from the past year together. You can almost see her mind touching the different parts of her memory as she talks.
“I kind of feel I have an obligation to sing about other things and share stories.” Danae confesses. “Being more active, it's made me want to sing about more things.”

“You gotta stand up for your people,” offers Priscilla. You can see the desire to use the “spiritual release” when the band plays together for a greater purpose.

Sunhaze, by Robert Alleyne

The pair shares a desire to play with less sound and more space in future records. They both share enthusiasm for the new sounds Priscilla is finding in her synth as well as new guitarist, Jay, and the artistic contribution he’s making to their collection of musical influences. “You’ll hear a change,” shares Danae.

The Night Light
March 4, 2017
9pm, $8