A child of Baltimore, Lauren grew to embrace the fatalistic spirit of the city in her work and art. With stunningly raw, haunting tones, Lakis has fashioned her own brand of delightfully gut-churning shoegaze. Authentic and honest lyricism, paired with lush, darkly romantic vibes, her songs are a refreshing change from today’s polite rock. Lakis and her full band have toured the West Coast extensively, and have shared bills with Drowse, Coastlands and Emmet Palaima of Elizabeth Colour Wheel. Her newest video ‘Run To You’ expresses the frustration of repeating the same mistakes, falling back into relationship with the same partners you know are bad for you while subconsciously choosing partners to replay childhood wounding because it’s familiar.
Interview Meikee Magnetic
Where were you born, where are you now and where would you like to go?
I was born and raised in Baltimore, currently reside in Los Angeles, and I’m hoping to go everywhere life is willing to take me.
Run To You is your newest work with concept and art direction by you. Is it more fulling doing it yourself?
Absolutely. I’ve spent a lot of years working as an actress – telling other artist’s stories, speaking their words and helping THEIR vision come to life. With music I have the opportunity to tell MY story, the entire process from writing the song to creating the final visual element is everything I could ever want as an artist. It’s the best thing in the world.
How are you recording music during the pandemic and has it hindered your creativity?
I’m such a workaholic normally, so the pause was extremely good for me spiritually and creatively. I used the time to write and demo a bunch of new material while currently recording some of the new songs at Singing Sands in Portland. I’ve basically been holed up with my producer and our engineer these past two weeks and feeling insanely grateful that the entire endeavor could even happen! I’m grateful for absolutely everything I’m able to do these days. To make music again after such a long stretch of no recording and no shows feels like a dream come true.
You ooze dark romantic vibes in your sound, who else is part of your production team?
My ride-or-die creative partner is Billy Burke of Gooey Music, he’s my producer and he totally gets me 100000%. The things he’s able to do with a voice memo would blow your mind.
What’s your favorite thing to do during the apocalypse?
Make out.
Future plans:
I just wanna hug every single person I’ve ever loved.
What does Dark Beauty mean to you?
Mysterious, raw, and a little dangerous. Big time sensuality.
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/laurenlakismusic
