NEW YORK, NY – Unlike most living things that lean toward the sun for growth, The Spikes’ latest collection of songs have been harvested in the dark. The growth comes from a poetic process—creating its own life source and a metamorphosis of interpretation. Their LP First Light is steeped in tension, instinct, and emotional residue. Across eight tracks, it moves with quiet force, drifting through fragments of memory, romantic collapse, and strange, half-lit beauty. At its heart is the focus track and music video, “Garden Song,” a ballad that captures the rare comfort found in someone else’s arms. This isn’t a record polished for perfection—it leans into the cracks, the atmosphere, and the spaces in between.
The LP arrives on the heels of two singles: “Dancing (In the Palm of My Hand),” and “Sapling Tree.” Their videos, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michael Haussman (Madonna, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake), further establish The Spikes’ stark visual world and poetic storytelling.
Iago says, “This is an album of ethereal beauty. 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.”
At the center of First Light is the focus track, “Garden Song.” Iago shares, “I set out to write a traditional and honest love song. This is probably the most classic song I have written for the album. Or my interpretation of what is classic and traditional is supposed to be. At the time I wrote it, these feelings of love were very strong. What came with this, was a feeling of safety or security. No matter what happens out there in the real world there is always safety in each other’s arms. Or each other’s Garden.”
Building on the track’s emotional weight, the visual for “Garden Song” expands the story even further. Where the song itself serves as the record’s emotional anchor—an aching portrayal of vulnerability and connection, the video takes that sentiment and places it in a universal context. “It gives a different meaning to ‘Garden Song.’ It becomes a love song which has no boundaries of age, race, sex, or class. All the odd faces found in a Roman neighborhood social club cafe. From old to young. Spanning generations with stories of pain and love carved into their faces. It is odd, sometimes weird, but to me, a very touching video as I sing to old ladies and old men. Not just young girls,” Iago adds.
But the LP doesn’t sit still in one place for long. Iago shares. “I wanted each song to resonate not only emotionally, but personally with the listener. None of the songwriting is on the nose and it is not so easy to understand my inspiration behind the lyrics. ‘Dancing (In the Palm of My Hand)’ is about the Great Gatsby, as a misunderstood man. It traces his feelings and yearning for love. ‘Sapling Tree’ is about the experience, inspiration and loneliness in travelling. Not just a trip but the journey of life. To write this, I used the Random Selection cut up method, invented by William Burroughs and used by David Bowie.
From the storytelling of “By the Moors” to the satirical violence of “Electric Cannibal,” each song expands the emotional range of First Light, exploring intimacy, destruction, delusion, and longing in lyrical scenes.
Iago adds, “How I arrived at each song is my experience. The listener will feel their own experience in hearing it. That’s what I want them to do. I don’t want a song that is directing the listener with a message or a narrative storyline. My intention is for them to feel the emotion of the song, through the music and lyrics, experience it, but interpret that into their own life. Their own feelings of life, love and loneliness.”
First Light doesn’t offer resolution, it offers resonance. It invites listeners into a world that is both personal and abstract, where emotion carries more weight than meaning. With this debut, The Spikes plant the seeds of something deeper: a sound that isn’t afraid to be tender, unsettling, or unresolved. This is music that doesn’t just speak, it stays with you.
FIRST LIGHT LP Tracklisting:
(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
For more information and to connect with The Spikes, please visit Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Spotify.
For more information, contact Dead Horse Branding at the following:
Danielle Reiss
Dead Horse Branding
Phone: (949) 421-9787
About The Spikes
Iago Haussman, known professionally as The Spikes, is a genre-defying singer-songwriter, poet, and painter. Born and raised in Rome, Italy, fluent in Italian, Iago brings a cinematic sensibility to his work, shaped by a childhood spent on film sets and a lifelong immersion in the arts.
The Spikes’ debut self-titled LP introduced listeners to his minimalist yet emotionally charged sound. His breakout single, “Guns for the Children”—a stark meditation on violence and lost innocence—released in June 2025, quickly gaining traction, with the accompanying music video at over 30,000 views on YouTube. He followed with “Dancing (In the Palm of My Hand),” a hypnotic exploration of fragility and control, whose video is now nearing 40,000 views.
More than a music project, The Spikes is an evolving artistic identity. Iago’s multidisciplinary work—across music, visual art, and literature—reflects a cohesive aesthetic that is poetic, unflinching, and deeply human. He has exhibited paintings in galleries and is preparing to release his second book of poetry with select pieces performed at live readings, and co-founded the punk band Delicate Prey at age 16.
Splitting his time between the U.S. and Berlin, The Spikes will release new singles throughout summer 2025, leading up to his eight-track LP, First Light set for release on October 31, 2025.
