diff --git a/piker/service/_daemon.py b/piker/service/_daemon.py
index 94a5d2f0..2cc28752 100644
--- a/piker/service/_daemon.py
+++ b/piker/service/_daemon.py
@@ -222,11 +222,13 @@ async def maybe_spawn_daemon(
             lock.statistics().owner is current_task()
         ):
             log.exception(
-                f'Releasing stale lock after crash..?'
+                f'Releasing stale lock after crash..?\n'
+                f'\n'
                 f'{err!r}\n'
             )
             lock.release()
-            raise err
+
+        raise
 
 
 async def spawn_emsd(