Austin, Texas-based dark rock/shoegaze artist Lauren Lakis releases her new album, A Fiesta and a Hell, via Green Witch Recordings. Recorded in Austin, the album was produced by Carey McGraw, mixed by Elliott Frazier, and mastered by Christopher Colbert.
Talking about A Fiesta and a Hell, Lakis shares, “‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ There is no better way for me to describe the past few years. In this time, I’ve grappled with intense grief, personally and for the collective, and anger that sometimes borders on rage. It’s hard to be a loving, open-hearted person in a world that can be so cold and alienating. Many facets of life have felt devoid of warmth and care; many people have felt devoid of warmth and care. And yet, because you can’t have hell without heaven, I’ve been simultaneously shown unconditional love on a scale I’ve never before experienced, too. We truly cannot have light without the dark; words to remember when the world is at its most bleak.”
Originally from Baltimore, Lakis dropped her debut long player, Ferocious, in 2018, followed by 2019’s EP, Sad Girl. In 2021, she released her sophomore long-player, Daughter Language. Lakis and her band have shared the stage with Ringo Deathstarr, Holy Wave, Sea Wolf, Peel Dream Magazine, and Drowse, as well as performing with Grammy-nominated Tracy Bonham.
A Fiesta and a Hell embraces nine tracks; entry points include “Watch You Run,” opening on heavy percussion flowing into reverb-lace guitars, infusing the tune with thick, abrasive waves of sound. Lakis’ dreamy vocals glide like spectres over the harmonics.
Drenched in dark eeriness, the intro of “Take My Hand” sets the stage for a song simultaneously draped in shadows and gleaming accents. Ringing resonance infuses the guitars, resulting in echoing waves as Lakis’ haunting voice imbues the lyrics with trance-like, drifting tones.
Explaining “Take My Hand,” Lakis says the track is about “forgetting what you thought you knew, letting go and bravely opening your mind to something radically different.”
“Terror Tears” merges the ’80s punk with hints of Goth rock. Bathed in viscous reverb, the guitars and vocals hum with raw, ominous textures riding a galloping rhythm. Lyrically, the song shouts down media propaganda and the lies and hypocrisy of governments.
A love song, “Leave Your Window Open”, features a mid-tempo rhythm and concentrated layers of murky guitars, along with stridently luminous inflexions. Lakis’ Medusa-like vocals give the lyrics spine-chilling, dreamlike flavours. Saturated in gooey shoegaze surfaces and ghostly reverberations, A Fiesta and a Hell is at once dizzying and compellingly constructed.
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