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Photo: Alex Justice

A truly euphoric experience; it's quite honestly the only way to succinctly describe girlhouse's the second ep. Playing out like a blast of nostalgic early 2000's pop rock hybridized with a modern indie rock twist, girlhouse deftly blends her influences with a forward-thinking appeal.  

So, who is girlhouse? girlhouse’s Lauren Luiz is a Portland native who first got her start in entertainment as an actress, appearing in shows like the NBC hit series Grimm.  Feeling like her career wasn’t really going to fully begin unless she moved to the heart of the action, she set off for Los Angeles where she got her first big break in a production of Spring Awakening. While acting opened so many doors for her, she found her true passion within the world of music, and began the project WILD with Tyler Thompson and Zac DeGaetano. Executing some truly amazing feats with the band, Luiz found herself writing a lot of music just for herself that didn't necessarily fit the band's vibe. And just like that, girlhouse made her way into the world.

girlhouse's the second ep takes us through the trials and errors of what relationships hand us, the ups and downs and everything in between. The EP captures poetry in sonic form, resulting in a confessional, loose narrative that is rife with emotional sincerity. Arriving as a portrait of heartbreak and hope, we had the chance to have girlhouse walk us through her heartfelt sophomore EP, track by track.  

"boundary issues"

Women put up with so much shit. We listen to people say horrendous things about women in the most casual way; she’s "crazy," she’s "entitled," she’s "ugly." I’ve worked with a lot of men and they all have opinions on how women should be more like men. I’ve definitely smiled and nodded until eventually I reached my breaking point and ended up feeling intense guilt over how I lost my cool.

"ballcap szn"

My first boyfriend had temper tantrums and broke shit when he got mad and then ended up stalking me after we broke up. Another guy from my hometown sent me unsolicited dick pics and sexually harassed me for years. Most of the boys in my high school theater department used to flash their testicles at the girls on stage as a joke. I got so numb to the bullshit that I started to get complacent with it, I felt like there was nothing I could do about it so I just went to my happy place in my mind, anywhere other than my hometown.

"concussion"

This was inspired by a shitty day in LA after a break-up that left me really confused. I got in a really bad car accident that day that resulted in a concussion, but I have no idea how. I was also broke and lost, but somehow all that mattered was the break-up.

"happy now"

"happy now" started as an angry poem towards someone in my life that was really emotionally challenging to me, but as we started producing it and I started looking at the lyrics from a different perspective, I realized I was projecting everything I hated about myself towards this other person. "happy now" is my heart, gladiator screaming "are you not entertained?!" to my body after doing all the things and following all the people that should, in theory, make me happy but in the end left me feeling empty.

"promises;  promises"

This song is about things that are and one thing that isn’t. It’s my only break-up song and came from a place of closure. I always hope for that big moment of closure from heartbreak, the person will say something that will take away all the confusion and somehow make me not feel rejected; but they can’t and sometimes the only thing that can make things better is time.

"eleventh grade"

I feel like this one was more inspired by a feeling than any actual coherent story. It’s about anxiety and obligatory relationships, living in New York and not loving myself enough to show people who I really am. "If you think you really love me" there’s no way that that version that you love is the actual me.