In a bold fusion of art, music, and gaming, the enigmatic singer-songwriter and multimedia artist POE is back with two new tracks that intertwine her personal journey with the eerie world of Alan Wake 2. Fans first caught a glimpse of her return with “This Road (AW)” during the October 2023 release of Alan Wake 2, but now, POE’s latest song “Six Deep Breaths” is set to haunt the upcoming Alan Wake 2: The Lake House expansion. Both tracks will finally be available outside the game on premium vinyl through her label RePoeZessed Records on October 22. True to form, this release is as much an art piece as a music offering, with a limited number of Easter-egg-infused copies rumored to be part of the vinyl drop.
This marks another milestone in POE’s longstanding creative partnership with Sam Lake, Alan Wake’s visionary creative director. Their collaboration began more than a decade ago, and together, they’ve blurred the line between music and game storytelling, weaving POE’s introspective lyrics into the fabric of the game’s unsettling universe. For POE, the connection between her real-life experiences and the dark, liminal space of Alan Wake’s world runs deep—something she’s felt on a personal level since her early involvement with the franchise.
Having withdrawn from the public eye for years, POE found herself in what she calls a “dark place,” eerily mirroring the shadowed isolation of the game’s protagonist. When she emerged in 2023 with music for Alan Wake 2, it wasn’t just a return to form; it was an artistic rebirth. In POE’s own words: “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 every time.”
For POE, the world of Alan Wake offered the creative freedom she craved in an era dominated by algorithm-driven constraints. She credits Sam Lake and the Alan Wake universe for giving her the room to evolve as an artist: “I think artists will thrive in gaming worlds in ways that are not possible anywhere else.” It’s a sentiment that feels revolutionary, as POE continues to explore the boundless potential of interactive media as a platform for musical expression.
With The Lake House expansion, POE’s new track “Six Deep Breaths” echoes throughout the game, acting as both a literal and metaphorical beacon of light, guiding players through the dark, dreamlike spaces that the game’s narrative navigates. The haunting collaboration with Sam Lake is once again front and center, with Lake praising POE’s ability to capture the essence of the story in song form: “Each song is a perfect beautiful world of its own… They fit so seamlessly into the story of Alan Wake, and I’m constantly amazed by how deeply POE understood what the story needed.”
This creative partnership, which stretches back to the inclusion of POE’s “Haunted” in the original Alan Wake (2010), has now evolved into something even deeper. Together, they expanded upon a song POE had posted on YouTube in 2012, “September 30th, 1955,” crafting it into an experience that loops listeners into a near-10-minute musical odyssey. In The Lake House, POE’s presence is more than just a soundtrack—it’s woven into the fabric of the narrative itself, a testament to how profoundly her own journey mirrors that of the game.
The release of the 12-inch vinyl on October 22 promises to be just as immersive. Side A features “This Road (AW),” while Side B showcases the extended version of “Six Deep Breaths (AW),” which melts into a 15-minute cascade of Brown Noise, designed to drown out the noise of the world. Produced by POE herself and engineered by Grammy-winning producer Darrel Thorpe, the release is an invitation to dive deeper into both the music and the game’s universe. According to POE, “This Road” was her attempt “to rip a hole through time and space,” a statement that aligns perfectly with the surreal, looping narrative of Alan Wake 2. The song ends where “September 30th, 1955” left off, with POE cryptically declaring, “I’m getting off this time,” and guides the listener through an emotional crescendo that was recorded live in one take—a performance she describes as “one of the most exquisite musical moments of my life.”
This October, POE’s music once again transcends its medium. Whether you’re a gamer, a music lover, or a fan of both, her latest offerings are proof that the intersection of these worlds isn’t just the future of storytelling—it’s already here.
