A Look Into 'The Light We Leave Behind' Immersive Experience in LA
Following its limited-run residency in Los Angeles’ Arts District, The Light We Leave Behind, the immersive live music experience created by artist, composer and producer Emmit Fenn, has extended its run for one additional week at East End Studios. Originally scheduled to close October 11, the experience will now continue through October 18, 2026, giving Los Angeles audiences additional opportunities to step inside its surreal world of snow, water, light, rain and live music.
Blurring the lines between live music, immersive theater, art installation and architectural experience, The Light We Leave Behind abandons the traditional concert format entirely. There is no conventional stage and guests don't simply arrive, find a seat and watch a performance. Instead, the approximately two-hour experience takes audiences through a sequence of environments built around sound, light, water, weather and physical space, allowing the music to be experienced as something guests enter rather than simply watch.
At the center of The Light We Leave Behind is an attempt to rethink what a live music experience can be. Rather than treating hospitality as something that happens around the performance, The Light We Leave Behind considers it part of the performance itself. Drawing inspiration from the level of care found in Michelin-starred dining and high-end fashion, every part of the guest experience, from the way audiences are welcomed and guided through the space to the tea they are served and the environments they move through, is given the same attention as the music, lighting and production. The result is a new kind of music experience: one where hospitality, architecture, sound and performance are all treated as parts of the same work, bringing a level of care typically associated with luxury experiences into something warmer, more human and more accessible.
“Seeing how people have responded to the experience has been incredibly meaningful,” said Emmit Fenn, creator of The Light We Leave Behind. “We built this to give people a chance to disconnect from everything outside the room and be completely present with the music and the world around them. Extending the run means we get to share that with more people, and I’m really excited to have another week in Los Angeles.”
The experience begins with guests checking in outside East End Studios before surrendering their phones for the duration of the experience and entering a darkened corridor that gradually reveals the first of three environments.
Inside The Snow Lounge, guests encounter a roughly 30-foot tree standing within a field of snow as snowfall descends from above. Guests gather around the installation and are served complimentary tea created in collaboration with Tea at Shiloh, with the tree, snow, darkness, light and sound functioning together as the architecture of the space.
The journey then leads into The Water Room, the experience's primary performance environment. Instead of a traditional stage, the expansive room is transformed by water and approximately 70 individual lights connected directly to the musical system, allowing the lighting and music to behave as elements of the same composition. Fenn performs within the environment alongside a small ensemble, surrounded by the same water and light as the audience. As the performance unfolds, rain begins falling inside the room.
The experience concludes in The Gallery, where guests can explore drawings, studies, imagery, objects and garments documenting the creative process behind the project and how its unusual environments were conceived and constructed.
The Light We Leave Behind was designed around the idea that every element guests encounter, from their arrival and service to lighting, pacing, sound and physical surroundings, can become part of the performance. The phone-free format is intentional, encouraging guests to spend the experience fully immersed in the environments around them.
Much of the music has also been composed specifically for the physical installation, with certain pieces created exclusively for these environments and not intended for release afterward. The result is a performance designed to exist specifically in that room, with that audience, at that moment.
The Light We Leave Behind is the creation of Emmit Fenn, a Los Angeles-based artist, composer and producer whose work moves between electronic music, contemporary composition, songwriting and visual art. Alongside his own artist projects, Fenn has worked as a producer and collaborator with artists including Billie Eilish, Julia Michaels and RY X, while his composition and production work has extended into film, television and projects for companies including Apple and Netflix.
The newly extended Los Angeles residency will now continue at East End Studios in the Arts District through October 18, 2026, with three performances nightly Thursday through Sunday. Click HERE for tickets and to reserve your experience!
*Photos courtesy of The Light We Leave Behind
