Good electronic music doesn’t just make you want to move. Instead, it should build up an entire environment around you, transforming ordinary rooms and buildings into the backdrop of a modern film. For Santiago-based synth-pop duo Chroma Noir (consisting of Mario Castro and Mauricio Solari), crafting unique electronic soundscapes is what they do best – I sat down with Mario Castro to find out a little more about the duo’s new single Endless Highway, which you can also check out at the bottom of this interview!
By Jane Howkins. Photo by Pablo Álvarez
This is our first time talking to you! How has your 2026 been so far? Did you have a good summer?
It’s a pleasure to talk to you folks! 2026 has been a busy year: three singles released so far, and we’re preparing a new one for the end of October. Now, here’s the thing: your UK summer was our winter! (laughs) We’re from far-flung Santiago, Chile, down in the Southern Hemisphere, so we’re just coming out of the overcast skies of winter and stepping into a sunnier spring.
You have a new single out titled Endless Highway, which we reviewed. What can you tell us about the track and how has the reception been so far?
Endless Highway started out as a lucky accident really. We were in a recording session at our producer Nico Arce’s studio, and I started playing around with some of the presets on the Prophet Rev2 synth. We stumbled upon that steady bass and those lush chords, and they sounded so great that we recorded a video of it on our phones so we wouldn’t forget it and could come back to it later. That’s the genesis of the song. Once we started working on it for real, we wanted to add an extra element, like the saxophone on Black Rain, one of our previous songs. We’ve always been fans of rock and metal and ‘shred’ guitar solos, so we reached out to Gabriel Hidalgo, a Chilean metal guitarist and composer with impeccable technique, to collaborate with us. The reception so far has been great. People who’ve listened to the track have caught the night-drive-meets-80s-action-flick vibe we were aiming for, and liked the metallic edge Gabriel’s guitar work brings to it.
You also released two other singles this year, titled Stay Forever and Sacrifice. What can you tell us about these tracks and how do you know when a song is destined to be a single, rather than just an album track?
To be honest, every track we’ve worked on so far has been a single. When Mauricio and I first got together to make Chroma Noir, we built up a backlog of songs, and the ones that stood out on the first listen with Nico are the ones we decided to refine and release as singles. Why not record them all and release a full-length album, you might ask? We feel the shorter release cycle of singles suits the streaming era better and keeps us active throughout the year.
Our previous two singles, Sacrifice and Stay Forever, lean lyrically toward romantic themes and gothic horror elements, which sets them apart from the more upbeat message of Endless Highway. Since we’ve developed each song individually as a single, instead of as part of an overarching album concept, we can experiment with different lyrical and sonic themes. Although one might argue that the best albums are the ones where every song is completely different from the next! In our case, the music comes first and sets the mood and tone for the words that follow. That’s why the dreamy soundscapes of Stay Forever and Sacrifice felt better suited to those themes than the driving, upbeat tone of Endless Highway.
Do you plan to release any more singles anytime soon?
Yes! In fact, our next one, due at the end of October, will be a cover of an 80s synth-pop hit. I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s a song originally performed by an Italian artist and later famously covered by an American female singer. (wink)
Are there any plans for an album or EP release in the near future?
We’d love to make a full-length album with a concept behind it and, above all, to release it physically on vinyl. But the issue right now is the time commitment of writing and recording eight to ten songs versus just one. Releasing a single every two to three months keeps us more ‘on the radar’ than, say, six months to a year of silence followed by a full album. Once we get the live show up and running (more on that later), I think we can start thinking about something more ambitious, like a full-length album and a promotional tour.
Who are your main influences as a duo? What have you been listening to recently?
Our influences are diverse, but they mostly boil down to the synth-pop greats of the 80s (Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Gary Numan, a-ha and so on), post-punk (Joy Division, Bauhaus) and, especially because of Mauricio’s voice, goth bands like The Sisters of Mercy and singers with deep baritones like Peter Murphy. Mauricio and I also come from a rock and metal background, so we draw a lot from there as well; think of bands like The Cult or Type O Negative. And since I’m the synth nerd of the group, my interest in the modern synthwave revival is what got me writing songs on synths, and that eventually led to forming this project. For our next original song, we want to take things in a more danceable direction, so lately I’ve personally been listening to a lot of Italo disco, Giorgio Moroder and the like.
You’re from Santiago in Chile. What is the local music scene like in the area?
It’s very vibrant. We usually compare it to other major South American cities like Buenos Aires and São Paulo but, in my opinion, our local scene is pretty respectable and varied; that’s why Santiago is an obligatory stop for international acts on their South American tours. And although it’s far from our style (and our personal taste, if I’m being honest), Chilean urban music and reggaeton have become a worldwide point of reference. Some of our fellow countrymen had one of the ten most-streamed songs on Spotify in 2024 (Gata Only by FloyyMenor and Cris MJ), quite a feat for artists from a country as small as ours! (laughs)
Do you ever perform live? What can people expect from a gig if they haven’t seen you live yet?
We haven’t played live yet, but right now we’re working on setting up the live show. We started out as a duo writing songs on software synths on the computer, then recorded them with hardware in a professional studio and released them to the world; up to this point, we’ve been purely a studio project. Now that we have enough songs for a set, we’re putting together a band to play them live. Although our recordings use drum machines, we feel the energy a real drummer brings to a live show can’t be beaten, so we’re adapting our songs around that and adding another musician to help with the layered synths and backing vocals. I’ve always felt it would be a pretty lame show if it were just the two of us and a laptop. We want to bring the energy of a full band to the stage, all accompanied by cool visuals. Expect to see videos of us performing live in 2027!
Do you have any tour dates lined up in the UK this year?
Our first goal is to play shows on home turf in 2027 but, believe me, the UK is definitely one of the places we want to take our music. Our Spotify data shows we have plenty of listeners there, as well as in other parts of Europe such as Germany and Sweden, so once we’ve established ourselves as a local live act, and if things line up, we’ll definitely show up in your corner of the world! On top of that, music from the UK has been hugely influential on our style; just think of the bands I mentioned among our influences.
Any last words for the fans?
This is just the beginning for us, and we’re on an upward trajectory. As I mentioned, we have lots coming up for the rest of 2026 and into 2027: more music and live performances. So stay tuned, and follow us on Spotify and other streaming services, as well as Instagram and YouTube.
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