Emerging artist The Spikes (the moniker of Rome-born singer-songwriter, poet, and painter Iago Haussman) releases his hauntingly introspective new LP First Light, a project that finds beauty in shadow and light in vulnerability. Out now, the eight-track collection explores the emotional intersections of love, loss, and longing, with the focus track “Garden Song” serving as its glowing centerpiece.
Unlike most who grow toward the sun, The Spikes’ music takes root in the dark — tender, cinematic, and deeply human. “This is an album of ethereal beauty,” Iago says. “It is cinematic. It is an emotional and personal journey. Musically, it is more stripped back and quieter than my previous material, but it is also a lot more complex. More layered and atmospheric.”
“Garden Song,” accompanied by a stunning video directed by Michael Haussman (Madonna, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake), captures the rare safety found in another’s embrace. “At the time I wrote it, these feelings of love were very strong,” Iago explains. “No matter what happens out there in the real world, there is always safety in each other’s arms. Or each other’s garden.” The video expands this intimacy into something universal, portraying love that transcends age, class, and identity through a cast of real people from a Roman neighborhood café.
Beyond its focus track, First Light unfolds like a series of emotional postcards. “Dancing (In the Palm of My Hand)” channels The Great Gatsby’s yearning spirit, while “Sapling Tree” reflects on travel and solitude, written using William Burroughs’ and David Bowie’s famed cut-up technique. Songs like “Electric Cannibal” and “By the Moors” reveal a sharp edge beneath the tenderness — exploring chaos, creation, and the uneasy beauty of being alive.
“This album isn’t about resolution,” Iago notes. “It’s about resonance. I want listeners to feel the emotion and interpret it into their own life, their own feelings of love and loneliness.” First Light invites listeners into a space where silence breathes, tension hums, and beauty blooms in the dark — a debut that lingers like a memory just out of reach.
Track Listing (Focus Track: “Garden Song”)
- Sapling Tree
- Garden Song
- Set Me Free
- Jungle Boy
- By the Moors
- Dancing (In the Palm of My Hand)
- Electric Cannibal
- My Fair Love