EPK

debut album out may 09, 25

constraints

CONSTRAINTS isn’t just an album; it’s a sonic séance, a nightmarish prayer, a protest whispered in the dark. — Nocturnazine

Following the release of her first two singles—“IN CHAINS,” currently set to appear in the upcoming feature on Nocturnazine “Manifest”, and the sharp-edged Italian-language track “L’ORA VUOTA”—NICO AMARA announces her debut full-length album, CONSTRAINTS, out this May 9.NICO AMARA is the darkwave project of Swiss experimental composer and multidisciplinary artist Nicole Fior-Greant. Active across European contemporary electronic music festivals, she now opens a more intimate archive—bringing her private musical obsessions to the surface. Drawing from industrial, dark electronic, the gothic underground of the 1980s, and modern darkwave, NICO AMARA shapes her debut album with restrained emotional tension, informed by her compositional work in electroacoustic reductionism and precision.Cold, minimal synths and tight basslines shape CONSTRAINTS into a sound that is immersive yet unyielding—eight tracks that shift between haunted stillness, echo-laden textures, mechanical edges, and a dark pulse. Multilingual vocals, delivered in whispers, spoken fragments, or airy melodies, drift through the album with a sense of detachment. Subtle changes in spatial depth and filtering animate even the most minimal structures, adding a quiet unease beneath the surface. Each track is a contribution to contrast and control, drawing the listener in without ever fully letting them in, —creating a minimal body music built on disquiet, motion and deliberate distance.
The lyrics across CONSTRAINTS move through themes of existential reflection and political urgency, touching on animal activism and environmental grief. These ideas surface in different forms—for instance, in “IN CHAINS,” through a focus on inherited emotional patterns and internal confinement; in “L’ORA VUOTA,” which draws from Nietzschean thought to explore illusion and perception; or in “MEAT MACHINE,” which addresses animal exploitation.The video for “IN CHAINS” is already available, with a visual for “L’ORA VUOTA” following in June. The full album will be available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp, as well as in a limited-edition compact disc release.Track List
01. IN CHAINS
02. MEAT MACHINE
03. COMME LA PESTE
04. STATIC
05. L’ORA VUOTA
06. BEMERKUNG
07. VIOLENCE UNDONE
08. BREAKCredits
Music, Lyrics, and Performed by NICO AMARA
Produced by NICO AMARA
Mixed and Mastered by Pina Vanucci
Cover Art by NICO AMARA

artist bio

Nico Amara is the solo darkwave project of experimental composer and multidisciplinary artist Nicole Fior-Greant (Switzerland), active in European electronic contemporary music festivals. With this project, she delves into her very private box, releasing her debut darkwave album—bringing with her a compositional precision that shapes subtle yet complex acoustic shifts within a minimal structure, offering a first glimpse into her dark sonic world.Inspired by darkwave, industrial-tinged electronic music, and classic contemporary composers, her music carries technical complexities, driven by cold, detached dark electro beats and mechanical textures shaped by dissonant tones, slow filter sweeps, and modulated reverb tails. These elements contrast with lush, minimal analog synth layers, creating an immersive backdrop.

Themes of existential reflection, environmental, and animal activism are expressed through fragmented, concise thoughts. Shifting between soft singing, spoken phrases, and whispers, she delivers haunting vocals in English, Italian, French, and German, reflecting a unique identity that adds sonic diversity and ambiguity that feels both intimate and distant.The result is a sound that defies easy categorisation—meticulously crafted yet emotionally raw, where compositional precision meets vulnerability through fragmented, multilingual vocals and a minimalist framework, unfolding in a space marked by absence, tension, and quiet intensity, both personal and unapologetically detached.

released singles

Nico Amara’s second single, L’ORA VUOTA, closes the cycle of her upcoming debut album—written last, but emotionally central. Sung entirely in Italian, the track reconnects with something distant yet deeply ingrained.Driven by a sharper, more rhythmic pulse than her previous single, L’ORA VUOTA leans further into the dancefloor—remaining icy, hypnotic, and detached. A track that moves without release, steady and self-contained with a strong and dark beat line, layered with minimal synths and immersive vocals.The lyrics unfold in cycles, dealing with illusion, time, and perception. Drawing from a Nietzschean tension—the confrontation with the abyss—L’ORA VUOTA asks, in part, what remains once the reflection is gone. The track doesn’t offer resolution, only fragmentation, recursion, and a cold poetic logic that turns in on itself.Both cerebral and immediate, L’ORA VUOTA extends Nico Amara’s sonic architecture—retaining her signature restraint and cold intensity, but with a more seductive, body-driven momentum.Releases April 17, 2025
Music, Lyrics, and Performed by Nico Amara
Produced by Nico Amara
Mixed and Mastered by Pina Vanucci
Cover Art by Nico Amara

Nico Amara’s debut single, IN CHAINS, is the most personal track from her forthcoming album—raw, restrained, and unsettling. Beneath its stark and intricately structured framework, the lyrics explore the inherited, unwanted patterns which leave their imprint —both physical and emotional.
Her haunting vocals and ghostly textures, reminiscent of a horror film, evoke the feeling of being trapped in an abandoned factory.
Moving between spoken and sung whispers, weaving through minimal synth layers and subtly modulated dark electronic beats, she created a soundscape within a minimal framework, which resonates with hidden and contrasting complexities that are both hypnotic and cold, yet still driven by a dark pulse made to dance to.Releases March 7, 2025
Music, Lyrics, and Performed by Nico Amara
Produced by Nico Amara
Mixed and Mastered by Pina Vanucci
Cover Art by Nico Amara
Photography by Zak Greant

press coverage

THE FULL INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE IN THE EDITION OF NOCTURNAZINE MANIFEST

Upcoming Schedule

The following release dates are scheduled:

May 09, 25 - Debut album release (8 tracks, including IN CHAINS and L'ORA VUOTA)
June X, 25 - Music video release for the second single
End of 25 - Plans to begin live performances

CONTACT & SOCIALS

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