A classic Cadillac knows how to make an entrance, with extravagant tailfins, acres of chrome, and enough presence to make its driver feel famous before anyone has learned their name. Elvis Presley understood the appeal, and the car’s place in rock-and-roll mythology hardly needs a sales pitch. Cadillac ambulance and hearse conversions put that same grand style to work at life’s more urgent appointments, with the 1959 Miller-Meteor that became Ecto-1 in Ghostbusters extending the service into the afterlife. For a romance careening toward ruin, the possibilities are admirably comprehensive: a seduction, a medical emergency, and a funeral, all replete with fine upholstery.
Los Angeles musician and producer Aryan Ashtiani, better known as Mareux, gives that unhappy arrangement a thoroughly danceable form on his latest track Cadillac Casket. Initially composed by Ashtiani on piano before being developed with producer Elliott Kozel (Rosalía, Eartheater, Provoker), the single offers the first preview of his next full-length album, currently in the works.
A repeating bass synth sets the song in motion beneath eerie, icy keyboards, while melodic metallic shudders disturb the space around Ashtiani’s ghostly vocals. His singing carries an insistent hook through the arrangement, its cool delivery giving the words an almost unnerving composure as the beat presses toward the dancefloor. Piano figures move through the mix like apparitions from a deserted ballroom, preserving the elegance of the original composition amid the electronics. Post-punk’s romantic severity meets French electro’s mechanical precision, with a touch of glam in the song’s appetite for theatrical excess.
The result has the suspense of a pursuit, with a love song unfolding in the passenger seat as the city passes in fragments outside. That combination reflects the neo-noir and science-fiction ideas Ashtiani has been exploring during his recent studio sessions. The new material returns to the darker, smokier character of his earlier work while carrying forward some of the range he opened up on Nonstop Romance.
Lyrically, Ashtiani describes someone pulling roses apart as though they were pieces of his heart. He offers himself up to be bound, claiming that a man already dead has little reason to care about a lost romance. Yet he remains a fragile figure, made of wax, waiting for an answered prayer while daring the other person to burn him. It is a rather reckless challenge from someone who has already admitted how easily he could be destroyed.
In the second verse, he expects news of this person to reach him because the city evidently cannot keep a secret. He asks whether they can behave as though God were watching, or whether they will blame their conduct on their bloodline. The old man upstairs has apparently been called upon because ordinary consideration failed to do the job. Beneath his resignation, he still wants accountability from the person who hurt him, and inherited bad habits hardly seem an adequate excuse.
Listen to Cadillac Casket below:
The release follows the recent double-platinum certification of “The Perfect Girl,” which became a viral sensation in 2021 and has also earned gold certification in France. Ashtiani’s catalogue now encompasses two full-length albums, Lovers From the Past (2023) and Nonstop Romance (2025), alongside collaborations with Artemas, The Drums, Riki, and King Woman.
“Cadillac Casket” is available across digital platforms via Revolution / Warner Records. Stream the single here.
Mareux heads to London, Paris/Montreuil, Athens, Istanbul, and Tbilisi this autumn before a December run through Chicago, Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., and Miami. A second night has been added at Saint Vitus following the sellout of the December 7 show, while the Miami performance will take place at a location still to be announced.
Tickets and further information are available here.
Mareux Live Dates 2026:
- October 30 — London, UK — Hootananny Brixton
- October 31 — Paris/Montreuil, France — Bal Chavaux
- November 3 — Athens, Greece — Floyd
- November 5 — Istanbul, Turkey — IF Performance Hall
- November 7 — Tbilisi, Georgia — Academy
- December 3 — Chicago, IL — Metro
- December 7 — Brooklyn, NY — Saint Vitus (SOLD OUT)
- December 8 — Brooklyn, NY — Saint Vitus
- December 10 — Washington, DC — Black Cat
- December 12 — Miami, FL — TBA
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