Hello everyone it’s your host Daniel from Dulaxi, and today I have with me the talented band Chroma Noir from Chile, Santiago. And Chroma Noir is here to discuss their recent hypnotic single “Sacrifice” which was released on March 1st, 2026. So, welcome, Chroma Noir!. But before we begin our interview, to our audience; here is what you need to know about this artist.
Chroma Noir is a Chilean synth-pop duo formed in Santiago in late 2024, consisting of vocalist Mauricio Solari and multi-instrumentalist Mario Castro. Their collaboration blends atmosphere, intensity, and melody, drawing from electronica and synth-pop while channeling the darker moods of post-punk and goth. Influenced by iconic acts such as Depeche Mode, Bauhaus, The Sisters of Mercy, and Peter Murphy, the duo crafts a sound rooted in nostalgia yet shaped by a modern sensibility. Solari’s evocative vocal delivery pairs seamlessly with Castro’s cinematic synthesizers, resulting in noir-tinged textures and driving rhythms that appeal to fans of synthwave and darkwave. Their debut single, “Burned Into My Mind,” produced by Nicolás Arce (América Paz), was released in September 2025 and introduced their sonic identity as both reflective and forward-looking. Building on this foundation, Chroma Noir released their third single, “Sacrifice,” marking a shift from the sci-fi themes of “Black Rain” into darker fantasy and gothic horror elements. The track embraces a slower, dreamier, and more romantic tone, exploring themes of ritual, devotion, and transformation. Featuring guest vocals from Angeline Bernini of Hidalgo, “Sacrifice” expands the duo’s sonic palette, further solidifying their growing international presence and artistic evolution.
Having this brief Introduction about Chroma Noir, I’m sure new and current fans must be excited about our Interview today.
INTERVIEW SESSION
Daniel: Can you tell us about the formation of Chroma Noir and what inspired you both to start this collaboration?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Mauricio and I had known each other for some years before we had a musical relationship, which began around 2022 when I joined the band Incendiaria, that Mauricio was fronting. I joined Incendiaria to play guitar; it had a more hard rock vibe, heavily influenced by The Cult. During this time, I showed Mauricio some attempts at synthwave I had recorded on my computer using software synths and he really dug them, and it was then and there that we decided to shift to do synth-based pop on our own. Eventually, Incendiaria disbanded, but we continued writing songs and by mid 2025 decided to give the project a name, record them properly, and release them to the wider public.
Daniel: How would you describe the core vision or philosophy behind your music as a duo?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Since synthwave was the genre that got me inspired to create synth-based music, we’re definitely driven by nostalgia (in a good way!) and paying homage to the electronic sounds of the late 70s and, most of all, the 80s. But that’s just one side of what we are. Mauricio’s darker vocals bring in the goth and post-punk ingredient that set us apart. That contrast between the bright, colorful synths and the darker vocal delivery is really what gives the project its unique identity, it’s what the name itself encodes, and it’s what drives everything we do.
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): We are deeply driven to infuse Chroma Noir with an authentic feeling and a rooted appreciation for the sounds and rich culture that shaped our childhood in the 80s. Beyond nostalgia, we believe that some of the best music was created in that era, and today we reinterpret it by adding contemporary touches that connect with the present.
Daniel: Which artists or genres have had the most influence on your sound, and how do you integrate these influences into your work?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Definitely Depeche Mode, especially around their Black Celebration era. The Sisters of Mercy and Bauhaus as well, mostly due to Mauricio’s vocal style matching those of Andrew Eldritch and Peter Murphy, respectively. Those are probably the most obvious stylistic influences. We also draw inspiration from other synth-pop acts of the 80s (e.g., Tears for Fears, a-ha, etc.), film soundtracks (the intro to our song “Black Rain” is pure Vangelis), and I personally get a lot from modern synthwave acts such as GUNSHIP, Lazerhawk, and Timecop1983.
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): There’s a bit of everything, but as Mario mentioned, there’s a clear preference for bands like Depeche Mode, Joy Division, and The Sisters of Mercy, a lot of post-punk and pop, as well as iconic film soundtracks like The NeverEnding Story, Black Rain, and Blade Runner (Vangelis in general).
Daniel: “Sacrifice” moves from sci-fi atmospheres into dark fantasy. What inspired this shift in theme for the song?
Chroma Noir (Mario): The thematic shift was completely driven by the music coming before the lyrics. Our previous single, “Black Rain”, starts with that ominous, cinematic intro, and the pulsating, sixteenth-note bass line that follows takes the theme in a more sci-fi direction; the instrumental sections conjure up images of futuristic skylines with bright neon advertisements contrasting dark skies. The instruments on “Sacrifice”, on the other hand, are driven by very delicate plucks over soft, ethereal pads at a slower tempo, conjuring up images of fantasy settings. This then led Mauricio to take the lyrics in a fantastical direction drawing from gothic horror.
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): It was about the possibility of exploring and blending with other themes we’re drawn to, fantasy, magic, the ritualistic and pagan, and romance. Always under a broad umbrella provided by fiction, where science fiction also has its place, allowing us to expand and open new paths.
Daniel: The lyrics explore “what must be lost before love can emerge.” Which line from the song do you feel most strongly conveys this message?
Chroma Noir (Mario): The line I like the most is the one that ends the chorus: “love will soon come.” There’s no one way to interpret lyrics, that’s up to the listener!, but I feel that line lands the strongest because of its simplicity and the way it resolves the chorus. And in the final chorus, when Angeline adds her voice to it, the line lands even stronger.
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): Same as Mario, “love will soon come” is everything for any human need or purpose in life, no matter the way.
Daniel: How did guest vocalist Angeline Bernini’s contribution shape the emotional texture of “Sacrifice”?
Chroma Noir (Mario): We hadn’t considered adding a female vocal until we were in the middle of recording the song, where it became more and more apparent that having a female vocal would take the song to the next level. It was as if the song itself was calling for it! Initially, we planned to just have Angeline do background vocals on the choruses, but we recorded a take of the verse and her performance was so good that we ended up turning the song into a duet.
Daniel: The track features an airy slide guitar solo, a first for Chroma Noir. How did you approach integrating this into your otherwise electronic sound?
Chroma Noir (Mario): A lot of our influences incorporate non-electronic instruments (I’m using the term loosely to mean instruments other than synthesizers) into their music (e.g., Martin Gore on guitar in DM), so we’ve never been reluctant to add guitars or other instruments of the sort to the mix as long as the electronic foundation is there. In the case of “Sacrifice”, similar to how the song itself was calling for Angeline’s vocals, the way the middle section develops needed a lead instrument that moved around in a legato motion, and a slide guitar is perfect for that. Add to that the fact that we were listening a lot to a-ha’s “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” with Nico, our producer, and you might get a better idea of some stylistic choices in that section of the song.
Daniel: “Sacrifice” blends dreaminess with gothic horror imagery. How did you structure the song to balance these contrasting moods?
Chroma Noir (Mario): I think there are many elements that come into play: leaving the lyrics aside for a bit, the song is in a minor key and, as in all music, the key is probably the primary “mood setter”, but then you have the instrumentation that provides the “dreaminess” aspect; the soft plucks that appear throughout the song evoke delicate elements of nature, like snowflakes or raindrops, the softer pads evoke fog or clouds, and when the pre-chorus and chorus hit, the chords hit harder reinforcing the “scary” aspects (sacrifice!). This instrumental interplay is how we like to “paint the picture” of the story being told by the lyrics.
Daniel: Can you describe your songwriting and production process for “Sacrifice”? How do you typically begin a track?
Chroma Noir (Mario): The songwriting usually starts with me coming up with a motif or arrangement that I record at home using my synths. There, I try to lay the foundations of the theme, mood, and sound design that will be applied during the recording. With that in place, we get together with Mauricio to come up with the melody and the lyrics. Once the song (or most of it) is established, we work with Nico (Arce, our producer) for recording, polishing some sections, arrangements, and sound design in more detail; Nico’s producer ears are much more attuned to how different sounds and frequencies coexist in the mix, and he’s an expert on which sound processing (e.g., reverb) enhances the different parts. I made a conscious decision to use hardware instead of software synths as much as possible and work within those constraints, and Nico is fully on board with that so that we can approximate the analog vibe of 80s recordings.
Daniel: Reflecting on your journey since forming in late 2024, what has been the most significant growth or change for Chroma Noir as artists?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Finding our audience. We’re just getting started, but seeing how our music connects with people in places far removed from our own, listeners and press in countries we never expected to reach, has been the most rewarding part. Each release has gotten a stronger reaction than the last, and that international reception is evidence that what we’re doing resonates beyond our corner of the world.
Daniel: How has your collaboration evolved between Mauricio’s vocals and Mario’s cinematic synthesizers since your debut?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Ever since we started working with Nico (our producer) and getting the songs from demos to finished recordings, we’ve become much more conscious of what works and what doesn’t, as well as our limitations and working within those bounds. But don’t get me wrong, we don’t feel limited at all, we’ve actually become more ambitious! So I guess the answer to the question about the evolution of our collaboration is that we’ve become more demanding of what we come up with in our demos that will eventually end up as releases.
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): We’ve been growing through the exploration of lyrics and demo recordings. Currently, we’re working more and more from the studio with our producer, and of course, we’re aiming for much more.
Daniel: What challenges have you faced in blending electronic synth-pop with post-punk and goth elements, and how have you overcome them?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Probably the instrumentation. There’s a lot (or maybe most) of post-punk and goth using the standard guitar-bass-drums-vocals band lineup; you can probably replace one or two elements with electronic instruments (e.g., The Sisters of Mercy using a drum machine instead of real drums) but I guess that it’s still the “rock band lineup” at its core. Our post-punk and goth comes in the form of Mauricio’s voice – swap him with a lighter tenor voice and we could be the Pet Shop Boys or Erasure! (laughs).
Daniel: Are there particular personal or musical experiences that deeply influenced the creation of “Sacrifice”?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Not for me personally, my life’s too boring. (laughs) But Mauricio and I are both avid consumers of media, music, movies, and books, and we draw inspiration from there. The romantic and somewhat sensual aspects of Sacrifice’s lyrics, without being overtly explicit, draw from vampire novels, such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): Mainly the desire to open up a new spectrum of fiction with other themes that we’re drawn to. On the other hand, we’re very much into consuming a wide range of culture, as well as topics related to science, and even stories of ancient cults and darker cultural elements, always with a more pop-oriented touch and perspective.
Daniel: How do you see your sound evolving in future releases while maintaining your distinct noir-tinged style?
Chroma Noir (Mario): I’m the gear nerd of the group so incorporating new synths and sounds is probably where I’ll mostly “evolve”, sound-wise. This was pretty evident during the 70s and 80s when you could tell when they were chasing the newest thing in synth technology: Moogs and mono synths in the 70s, then poly synths entered the picture, the Oberheims, the Prophets, the popularity of Japanese synths in the 80s, the FM revolution of the DX7, and so forth. Being 2026 we already have all of that at our disposal so it’s just a matter of picking and choosing based on which sound direction we want to go.
Daniel: Looking back, what does the release of “Sacrifice” represent for you personally and professionally?
Chroma Noir (Mario): It’s currently our most-streamed song, a definite milestone. It also showcases how well we can collaborate with other musicians (Angeline, in Sacrifice’s case).
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): Darkness! (laughs) And a big desire to go dancing at an ’80s gothic post-punk nightclub.
Daniel: How has fan reception to your previous singles influenced the direction or presentation of “Sacrifice”?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Truthfully, Sacrifice was the first song Mauricio and I wrote together! It was written when we were still exploring our songwriting, before we had even consolidated the project with a name and released our first single. The plucks and soft pads of the intro were actually the first of my synthwave experiments I showed Mauricio, and that kickstarted our collaborative partnership. So the song was pretty much conceived before the other singles were even made; we just left it on the back burner for some time. After releasing “Black Rain” we looked into our backlog of songs in demo form and “Sacrifice” was the one that stood out the most and, as I mentioned earlier, we’re on an upward trajectory and couldn’t follow up with a weaker song.
Daniel: What has been the most memorable fan reaction or feedback to your music so far?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Getting feedback from people outside your home country and who don’t speak your language is always memorable. Knowing that they connect and get the vibe of your music is a special feeling, and it’s always interesting how they are able to identify your influences, even ones you hadn’t thought of consciously. For example: a good friend’s wife said she heard a lot of Roxy Music in us!
Daniel: Are there upcoming projects, collaborations, or tours that fans should be excited about?
Chroma Noir (Mario): We’re about to finish the follow-up single to “Sacrifice”, so expect that to come in a few weeks! Those that liked Sacrifice should also enjoy the follow-up. We’ve also thrown around the idea of releasing a cover song. As for touring, no tour plans at the moment, we haven’t even debuted as a live group yet! So I definitely don’t want to end 2026 without us having a couple of live shows in our hometown of Santiago under our belt.
Daniel: Where do you see Chroma Noir in the next few years, and what goals are you aiming to achieve as a duo?
Chroma Noir (Mario): Our focus in the immediate future is to release singles frequently to keep us active and eventually release a collection of songs in the form of an EP or full-length album (and, if there’s enough demand, with physical copies available in vinyl and/or CD). I see us continuing on the upward trajectory we’re currently at, with more live shows and maybe opening for an established act. Getting really ambitious, I would really like to be able to play in other countries, although as I’ve said in our Apple Music biography, if our music gets played at Blondie (local dance club in Santiago) and people dig it there, I’ll be happy.
Chroma Noir (Mauricio): For sure, playing in other countries and having fun.
Having Had A Close Listen To This Exceptional Song, Here’s My Thought.
Listening to “Sacrifice” by Chroma Noir featuring Angeline Bernini feels like stepping into a world where emotion and atmosphere are the primary instruments. From the very first note, the track envelops you in layers of lush synths and deep, pulsing electronic textures that create a cinematic sense of space. The rhythm is subtle but compelling, gradually building tension with nuanced percussive elements that keep the track moving without ever feeling rushed. Vocally, the interplay between Chroma Noir’s introspective, haunting tones and Angeline Bernini’s luminous, expressive voice creates a dialogue that is both intimate and dramatic, heightening the song’s emotional resonance. Melodically, the minor key and shifting harmonies evoke tension, melancholy, and fleeting moments of hope, perfectly mirroring the thematic weight of sacrifice and inner struggle. The production is meticulous, each synth pad, percussive layer, and ambient sound carefully placed to deepen the emotional impact. What strikes me most is how the song balances intensity with restraint, never overbearing, yet deeply immersive. It’s a track that demands attention, rewarding repeated listens with the discovery of subtle textures, vocal nuances, and harmonic shifts, ultimately leaving a lingering sense of reflection and catharsis.
~ Daniel (Dulaxi Team)
Finally to our audience, I urge to listen to “Sacrifice”, add it to your playlist and be Inspired by it and on behalf of Dulaxi I like to appreciate you all by saying thank you everyone, See you on our next interview.
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