THIS IS A PRE-ORDER: We expect this to ship on or around MAY 15TH 2026. Any items ordered with this will be held until they can ship together. If you need other items faster please place a separate order. Thanks!

Lauren Lakis makes songs that are steeped in darkness, but inside of them is a sense of hope. They are propelled by the possibility of emerging on the other side feeling less alone and fully transformed.

On her debut album Deadlights, set for release on Riding Easy Records on May 8, 2026, she conjures a shifting realityone defined by both distortion and clarity. Indebted to shoe gaze and 90s alt rock, its 10 tracks are filled with ethereal vocals, melodic guitars, and a heavy low end. Its inspired by groups like Deftones and Hole, powerful bands that explore the emotional bottom but are able to rise from the depths.

Lakis was born in Baltimore, where she was raised by her single mother. As she grew up, she lost multiple family members and friends to addiction. She became an actor and a photographer, trying to capture the human experience with each endeavor. Her travels led to stints living in Prague and Tokyo, before she moved to Los Angeles. In 2016 she endured a horrible breakup, and then her mother was in a car accident that left her paralyzed.

Though Lakis was already singing in a band at the time, these life-altering events motivated her to focus on writing and recording her own music. When you’re in a place of total surrender, you are able to get out of your own way and finally do the thing you want to do, she says.

After the car accident, Lakiss mothers health deteriorated, and Deadlights was recorded over the last year of life, with Lakis frequently travelling back to Baltimore to care for her. Despite these circumstances and the recurring theme of loss in its songs, Lakis doesnt consider Deadlights a grief album. Instead it captures whats possible when you survive the worst reality you can imagine. That loss, the experience of going through the absolute worst thing, there’s a freedom in that, she says. There’s a liberation in that where I almost feel invincible.

silver vinyl

street date 5/15/2026