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Desert Hearts cofounders Mikey Lion, Marbs and Lee Reynolds are hitting the road together this spring and summer under the Desert Hearts name, alongside the release of a new EP from the trio, which arrived April 29.

This moment marks the first time the founders of the long running Southern California Desert Hearts festival and collective are both touring and releasing music together under the Desert Hearts name. Their two track EP California is out now through Desert Hearts Records.

The announcement arrives following news in November that the Desert Hearts festival will not take place in 2026. “We went into DHF 2025 with the intention of taking a break in 2026, but we ended up throwing the best Desert Hearts ever,” the team shared at the time. “In the afterglow, we went on sale for 2026. When we finally came back down, we realized what throwing a full scale DHF next year meant, and we didn’t like how that looked for our artist paths and personal lives. We sincerely apologize for getting ahead of ourselves.”

Now, Mikey Lion explains that the pause is intentional. “We made a conscious decision to take 2026 off from producing our annual Desert Hearts Festival so we could refocus on what brought us together in the first place being artists. Desert Hearts has always been rooted in the music, but over the years the event side naturally took a lot of our energy. 2026 felt like the right moment to shift that balance back. At the same time, we have always felt strongest as a crew. Releasing music under the Desert Hearts name is our way of fully embracing that identity while presenting a unified sound and vision.”

“California is the foundation of everything we have built,” adds Reynolds. “It is where the first Desert Hearts parties happened, where the community thrived, and where we really found our identity. The DH vibe is uniquely Californian and we wanted to reconnect with our roots as we step forward as a trio.”

“Desert Hearts has always been about love, connection and freedom of expression through music, art and community, and we have never compromised on that,” Marbs continues. “We have had opportunities to take more traditional routes as we have grown, but that has never been the point. We are not chasing trends or trying to fit into a system, we are creating spaces where people can feel something real and connect on a deeper level. That intention has stayed the same for over a decade, and it is the reason our community is still so strong. We protect that above everything.”

Desert Hearts first emerged in the early 2010s from the West Coast transformational festival scene, eventually growing into a bi annual house and techno gathering that draws thousands of fans along with a curated lineup of artists. Over time, the founders have also taken the Desert Hearts experience on tour across the United States and internationally.