Hiro Kone
Hiro Kone is the alias of Nicky Mao, a New York based musician and producer. She uses a combination of modular synthesis, field recordings and live instrumentation to cultivate her sound, a visceral meditation on rhythm, noise, and melody that has seen her release on leading experimental labels including Dais Records and BANK Records. No stranger to manipulating macabre disorientations into enchanting new shapes, her music exposes the unsettling and sublime. Instinctively responding to the precariousness of humanity, Kone’s cascades of twisted recordings find an inherent partner in the effervescent current of synthesis and, in the process, forge new terrains. Her latest solo release, Silvercoat the throng captures her at the peak of her powers, alchemizing disruption and decomposition into regenerative interior worlds: “Within the darkness and absence is an opportunity for discovery.”
Hiro Kone’s range is exhibited through both her musical collaborations and global appearances. These include works with Drew McDowall (of Coil), Speaker Music, and Muqata’a and special appearances at The Museum of Modern Art, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, and Lobe Spatial Sound Studio in Vancouver. She has also participated in artistresidences at Pioneer Works in New York and the prestigious EMS studios in Stockholm. She performs regulary and is a fixture at genre pushing events including Tasmania’s Dark Mofo, Rewire Festival and Berlin Atonal.
Check out her most recent project Enxin/Onyx whose album In Rupture is out Feb 20, 2025 on Other People.
📸: Mara Corsino
Hiro Kone is the alias of Nicky Mao, a New York based musician and producer. She uses a combination of modular synthesis, field recordings and live instrumentation to cultivate her sound, a visceral meditation on rhythm, noise, and melody that has seen her release on leading experimental labels including Dais Records and BANK Records. No stranger to manipulating macabre disorientations into enchanting new shapes, her music exposes the unsettling and sublime. Instinctively responding to the precariousness of humanity, Kone’s cascades of twisted recordings find an inherent partner in the effervescent current of synthesis and, in the process, forge new terrains. Her latest solo release, Silvercoat the throng captures her at the peak of her powers, alchemizing disruption and decomposition into regenerative interior worlds: “Within the darkness and absence is an opportunity for discovery.”
Hiro Kone’s range is exhibited through both her musical collaborations and global appearances. These include works with Drew McDowall (of Coil), Speaker Music, and Muqata’a and special appearances at The Museum of Modern Art, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, and Lobe Spatial Sound Studio in Vancouver. She has also participated in artistresidences at Pioneer Works in New York and the prestigious EMS studios in Stockholm. She performs regulary and is a fixture at genre pushing events including Tasmania’s Dark Mofo, Rewire Festival and Berlin Atonal.
Check out her most recent project Enxin/Onyx whose album In Rupture is out Feb 20, 2025 on Other People.
📸: Mara Corsino
