Squaawke Releases Third Album in One Week: Gerlach Isn't Real

New autobiographical album draws on Craig Ellenwood's lived experience beginning with the founding of Burning Man's music and sound-camp element in 1992.

Point Roberts, Washington · September 26, 2026

Haawke Neural Technology, LLC announces the release of Gerlach Isn't Real, a new album by electronic artist and Haawke founder Craig Ellenwood, recording as Squaawke. It is Squaawke's third album released in a single week.

Unlike a conventional collection of songs about Burning Man, Gerlach Isn't Real is built from Ellenwood's own experiences beginning in 1992, when he founded the music and sound-camp element of Burning Man. The songs turn fragments of those experiences—people, arguments, rituals, absurdities, long nights and desert memories—into music more than three decades later.

Tracks include “Initiation of the Virgins,” “F*** Yer Burn,” “We Kept The Watch,” “Die To Live Again,” and “Lost Vapes of the Playa,” the latter an elegy for the thousands of small electronic devices that apparently entered the Black Rock Desert and were never heard from again.

Gerlach Isn't Real continues an unusually prolific period for Squaawke while Ellenwood continues research into AI-assisted music composition, human–AI creative collaboration and cryptographic provenance at Haawke Neural Technology.

“I want my neighbors and residents of the community to have a break from the techno and to be able to hear the calls of the eagles and blue herons. I've accepted an artist residency in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and will be working with local musicians on an album or three there. We will be throwing a party for Lin Roberts' 70th birthday before I leave, so if you need some earplugs, just ask.”

— Craig Ellenwood

Ellenwood has spent more than two years working on music and artificial-intelligence research from Point Roberts, Washington. The Chiang Mai residency will move the work into a different environment, with plans to collaborate directly with Thai musicians and vocalists while continuing experiments in AI-assisted composition and provenance.

Whether “an album or three” is a joke remains unclear given this week's evidence.

GERLACH ISN'T REAL
Initiation of the Virgins
F*** Yer Burn
We Kept The Watch
Die To Live Again
Lost Vapes of the Playa

About Squaawke. Squaawke is the recording project of musician, artist and creative technologist Craig Ellenwood. Ellenwood founded the music and sound-camp element of Burning Man in 1992 and has worked across electronic music, video, immersive environments and artificial intelligence.

About Haawke Neural Technology, LLC. Haawke Neural Technology develops experimental systems at the intersection of artificial intelligence, creative practice, provenance and sustained human–AI collaboration. Its work includes AI-assisted music production, cryptographic provenance systems and the Continuous You research program.