Where most artists would double down on the sleek, sexy, and smooth-as-onyx darkwave and goth-pop that landed them in the spotlight in the first place, Mareux’s (Aryan Ashtiani) sophomore album – Nonstop Romance – is rough and unmannered, completely drunk in love and refusing to walk it off. Like a frilly valentine scuffed on hard pavement, it’s simultaneously gushing and fractured, distorted into illegibility but transparent in its intentions. Today, Mareux gives us his glimpse into Nonstop Romance with the album’s most downhearted track – “Laugh Now Cry Later”
“I started writing this song way back in 2018 and it’s gone through several evolutions since then. At the time, I was coming off of a bad relationship and was feeling bitter. I brought it back recently, not inspired by my own misfortunes, but those of some of my friends. This song is a standout on the album, not because it’s better than the other songs, but because it’s the saddest song on it,” says Mareux.
Throughout Nonstop Romance, Mareux sets up his songs like Venus fly traps, beaming romance and thumping beats underlit in a sinister red. Maintaining that balance—between the album’s obvious pleasure and the quiet threat that accompanies it—is central to its ethos.
“I’m trying to make something that’s reflective of me getting older,” Mareux says. While that’s usually code for calmer, more intimate material, the top priority of the adult life Mareux both celebrates and questions is having fun. “Could you put it on in your house with people around and not bring the mood down?” was the question that guided him.
“I’ve noticed that as artists get better or more seasoned, they go for a more polished, studio sound and lose their grit,” Mareux says. “I like when music sounds like found footage.” While writing and recording Nonstop Romance in his bedroom in Los Angeles’ Lincoln Heights neighborhood over the span of 2024, he’d set up an old CRT TV and watched films on mute for inspiration—anything from Andrei Tarkovsky and Alejandro Jodorowsky to Hype Williams’ Nas and DMX-starring Belly. If this sounds like an unlikely combination, Mareux fits them together naturally in Nonstop Romance, blending smeared tape-residue synths into readymade club hits.
On Nonstop Romance, Mareux prioritizes feel and vibe over clarity. Still, anyone who fell in love with his music via his viral cover of The Cure’s “The Perfect Girl” (now certified platinum Stateside, and gold in France) or the heartfelt noir of 2023’s Lovers from the Past will find plenty to swoon over here. This is an album that wears its title on its sleeve; it’s an earnest manifestation of Mareux’s desire to “make every day about making someone happy and giving them the best life possible.” Though he brings a meticulous ear to the textures and rhythms that clash across this album, it’s all in service to a greater goal. “I only care about one thing,” Mareux says, “and that’s being in love.”
Mareux Live Dates:
May 17: Pasadena, CA – Cruel World Festival
