Mareux announces Nonstop Romance with new single Ébèné Fumé
Mareux has released Ébèné Fumé, a collaborative single with Riki, ahead of the album Nonstop Romance, due out on 27 June 2025 via Revolution / Warner Records. The track arrives with a video directed by Nedda Afsari of Muted Widows.
Artist: Mareux
Release Date: 2025-06-27
Genres: Electronica, Synth Pop
Label: Revolution Records, Warner Records
Description: Mareux and Riki release Ébèné Fumé ahead of Nonstop Romance album, out June 27 via Revolution/Warner Records.
The production draws on electronic pop structures, folding Riki’s vocal delivery into a compressed rhythmic frame led by synthetic bass and minimal percussion. The release follows Laugh Now Cry Later, another single from the upcoming album.
Nonstop Romance was written and recorded by Aryan Ashtiani, who performs under the name Mareux, in his home studio in the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles. He has stated that he worked primarily on analogue equipment, using a CRT television to play films on mute during writing sessions. Referenced influences include Tarkovsky, Jodorowsky, and Hype Williams, suggesting a preference for elliptical visual sources over genre consistency. Ashtiani has described the album as focused more on atmosphere than precision, intentionally avoiding a studio sheen.
The new material contrasts with the smoother production style of Lovers from the Past (2023) and his cover of The Cure’s The Perfect Girl, which circulated widely online and has since been certified platinum in the United States and gold in France. While Nonstop Romance retains elements associated with synth-pop and darkwave, it appears more fractured in both form and intent.
Born in California, Aryan Ashtiani began the Mareux project in 2011. After studying biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he pursued medical work before turning to music full time. His early tracks were distributed via SoundCloud, before the project drew wider attention through streaming platforms. His work often references early 1980s coldwave, post-punk, and European minimal synth, though with contemporary production signatures.
Riki, who appears on Ébèné Fumé, is the project of Niff Nawor, formerly of Crimson Scarlet. Based in Los Angeles, she has released material through Dais Records, including the albums Riki (2020) and Gold (2021). Her output incorporates melodic synthpop structures and draws on Italo disco, Neue Deutsche Welle, and visual elements grounded in early MTV-era iconography.
Nonstop Romance will be released on 27 June. Mareux has also announced live performances in Los Angeles around the release date.
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