Light Tower is a new collaborative project led by Chris Enriquez (On The Might of Princes, Spotlights). It is a dark and deeply personal account of his personal experiences, delivered with his immense talent. Light Tower combines elements of shoegaze, post-hardcore, and emo, but offers something very unique that will strike a flame with fans of the genres. The debut EP features three powerful songs that set the stage of what we expect to see from the band in the future. It was released Friday, October 7 by Iodine Recordings, and is limited to 100 cassettes.

In the late 90s, Enriquez found himself at the center of Long Island’s exploding emo scene as the drummer for the legendary post-hardcore act On the Might of Princes. Fast forward a couple of decades and Enriquez currently sits behind the kit for acclaimed post-metal trio Spotlights. Now, he’s turning his creative energies to a new project under his own name, with his debut EP Light Tower, a perfect summation of everything he’s seen and experienced in music.

Light Tower is a demonstration of Enriquez’ musical intuition, mashing up his post-hardcore roots with the shoegaze and space rock he fell in love with as a young listener and experienced first-hand. The EP was born from the pandemic; after a planned 2020 tour with Spotlights opening for Korn and Faith No More that wound up getting canceled due to COVID, Enriquez found himself with some rare downtime, and thus Light Tower was born.

“Fearing the outside world during early months of 2020 ended up being a blessing in disguise. While processing everything, I was simultaneously ending a toxic situation, starting a new chapter, but also dealing with a lot of death around me. Songwriting dominated my downtime as a coping mechanism. I also began working on a project with my old band from 20 years ago, which ignited a flood of nostalgia that ultimately had a direct influence on my musical direction” he says.

“Light Tower feels very full circle in the sense of fusing styles I had dabbled in over the years and wrapping it up into one cohesive project and lyrically, it was liberating to sing about very personal experiences ranging from intimate relationships, struggles with drugs and alcohol, mental health, as well as the passing of friends. Stepping out from behind the drums and into the forefront as a solo artist is scary but liberating. I’ve never been in charge of any music I’ve been part of in the past beyond adding my two cents on a few parts. It’s always been someone else’s party and I still love doing that, but it feels great to finally share something that’s truly my own.”

To help refine his vision, Enriquez enlisted John Lamacchia (Candiria) to produce and record all vocals, guitars and bass. Elsewhere, Phil SanGiacomo (Somnuri) recorded drums, Justin Williams (Gracer) wrote, recorded, and performed all keys/synths, Sam Hoyos (Playing Dead) co- wrote “When the Mask Drops” and Mario Quintero (Spotlights) mixed/mastered the entire thing.

Get it now here: https://orcd.co/lighttower