A child of Baltimore, Lauren Lakis grew to embrace the fatalistic spirit of the city with an ever-present and fearless approach to her work and art. The hand-crafted rawness of her sound bellows deep and true, unscathed by the prevailing winds of today’s polite rock. Lauren Lakis’s persistence and growth in the Los Angeles scene can be attributed to her previous bands Hobart W Fink (vocals), Slow Coda (vocals & keys), & LA Nova (vocals, keys, bass, programming).
Inspired by the challenges that life throws at you, Lakis purposely immersed herself into experiencing arduous and uncomfortable situations. Having looked up to fearless women as a child, the songstress was determined to live her life as raw, real and unapologetic as possible. “I always aspired to embody those qualities, to strike out on my own, boldly go where no one in my family has gone, to love harder and more passionately” reveals Lakis. Wanting to discover what it’s like to lead the lives of as many different types of people in the world, Lakis spent nights writing poetry with junkies in abandoned warehouses, taught English in Prague, worked as both a stripper and yoga teacher in Tokyo and helped as a mentor for kids with Autism. These challenges gave her a whole new understanding, opening her eyes and learning empathy and compassion for others which ultimately infiltrated her songwriting.
FEROCIOUS, her first full-length solo album, is a product of passion. The album is a culmination of these past experiences folded with a recent personal tragedy. In collaboration with producer Billy Burke, Lakis explores the full spectrum of the grieving process against a backdrop of shoegaze inspired guitars, haunting synth swells, deep-driving beats, and lyrics imparted with true candor. All instrumentals were written and performed by Lakis with the exception of AJ Brown on drums and additional guitars by Chris Garcia and Alex Stills. Additional engineering tasked to the talented Chris Kasych (Adele, Phantogram, Cee Lo Green), with mixing and mastering also performed by Billy Burke.
Thematically, the album narrates the stages of grief in chronological order. With the desire to express something human and honest, Lakis takes it upon herself to say the things that most people feel uncomfortable to say, “whether it’s a lost love, or a new love that sets me ablaze, both are equally inspiring to me”. Leading single ‘Lead Us On’ shines with gritty guitars, resonating melodies and ethereal vocals. While on the track ‘Ferocious’, simple melodies, prominent drums and haunting vocals highlight the authenticity in Lakis’s songwriting. The video for the poignant single features stunning choreography between two lovers, with their motions resembling the trials and tribulations that relationships go through.