POE Emerges from The Dark Place with New Music in Alan Wake 2 – The Lake House Expansion (out October 22, 2024)

Los Angeles, CA – In an artistic journey that blurs the lines between reality and fiction, POE, the pioneering singer-songwriter and multimedia artist, is set to release two tracks that bridge her personal life and the haunting world of Alan Wake 2. Following her critically acclaimed return to the gaming universe with “This Road (AW)” featured in the game’s original October 2023 release, POE’s newest track, “Six Deep Breaths,” is featured in the recently announced Alan Wake 2 expansion ~ The Lake House. Both songs will be available for the first time outside the game on limited edition premium vinyl via POE’s RePoeZessed Records on October 22 (www.poestuff.com).

POE’s life and music have become deeply intertwined with the Alan Wake universe in a way that reflects her own personal journey. After vanishing from public view, POE found herself in a metaphorical “dark place,” similar to the liminal realm where Alan Wake’s protagonist is trapped. Her re-emergence began with the inclusion of four Chapter Songs, and the full-length track “This Road (AW)”, in Alan Wake 2. The new music was born from her intensely symbiotic collaboration with Sam Lake, the Alan Wake series’ Creative Director. 

In both the game and real life, POE’s creative resurgence represents not just a return from the shadows—it’s an artistic rebirth. POE reflects on this powerful parallel:

“A real-life story becomes a journal, that then becomes a song, that then becomes a part of a game, that in turn affects your real-life in a way that changes the song, that then changes the game… Ha! ‘And some say that it loops forever this road that I lose you on everytime’.”

For POE, this resurgence may not have been able to take place anywhere but in a game.  POE elaborates on this:

“In this day and age where algorithms impose so many creative restraints, the Alan Wake world, and most especially Sam Lake, empowered me as a composer, producer, performer and poet with a freedom I don’t think I could have found anywhere else.  I think artists will thrive in gaming worlds in ways that are not possible anywhere else.” 

In The Lake House, the second major expansion for Alan Wake 2, POE and her music are central to the storyline. The new track, “Six Deep Breaths”, composed by POE and collaborated on again with Sam Lake provides a ray of haunted hope that echoes through the Lake House, mirroring POE’s own journey out of isolation and back into the world.

Sam Lake, reflecting on their collaboration, said:

“POE is an incredible musician and artist. Watching her create these songs, let alone collaborating with her in small part in this creative process, has been such a joy. I’m constantly amazed by the results, how each song is a perfect beautiful world of its own, and simply among my favorite songs ever. And at the same time how seamlessly they fit into the story of Alan Wake, how deeply POE understood what the story was and needed. I will always treasure our collaboration, while secretly hoping that like “This Road”, it’s only the beginning and will loop forever, so that there will be many more projects and songs to come.”

A Decade-Long Creative Partnership

POE’s connection to the Alan Wake series began in 2010, when her song “Haunted” was featured in the first game. The song’s eerie atmosphere became a fan favorite, with many crediting it as one of the most iconic musical moments in gaming history. This early collaboration set the stage for a deeper creative alliance.  Together POE and Sam expanded upon a song that POE posted on Youtube in 2012 called, “September 30th, 1955”.   The expanded version is present in different cues throughout the game ultimately leading to the 9 and ½ minute song that takes listeners and gamers alike over what can only be described as a musical event horizon. With The Lake House, the partnership deepens, as POE’s music and her presence in the game’s world become inseparable. Both the game’s themes and POE’s real-life story of rebirth from the dark place fuel this creative fusion.

On October 22, 2024, POE will release “This Road” on special 12” premium gatefold vinyl available exclusively on RePoeZessed Records via her website’s store,  www.poestuff.com. It is rumored that 20 copies of the limited run will contain one of a kind easter eggs.

Side A – “This Road (AW)”
Side B – “Six Deep Breaths (AW)” (Extended)

Produced by POE and Engineered by 9 x Grammy Awards® winner Darrel Thorpe (Radiohead, Beck) Both “This Road (AW)” and “Six Deep Breaths (AW)” are designed to be experiences with “Six Deep Breaths” (Extended) disintegrating into 15 minutes of Brown Noise helping to quite literally drown out the noise of the world as POE’s voice singing “The nightmare can’t have my dream” slowly fades away.

“This Road,” as POE explains “was my attempt to rip a hole through time and space” adding with a laugh, “if you know anything about Alan Wake 2, that was required.”  The song begins where “September 30th, 1955” left off with the line “I’m getting off this time” (a signature POE double entendre)  referring to the infinitely looping road on which she continues to experience the same loss over and over.  It then proceeds to take the listener on an odyssey eventually slowing down little by little over the last third of the song as POE and the band, who performed this live in one take, stay impossibly in sync.  “That performance was one of the most exquisite musical moments of my life.” says POE.