Elio Ricca — Emotional Hardcore

Elio Ricca – Emotional Hardcore

Elio Ricca’s new album, Emotional Hardcore, crashes into your system with the rush of a sugar high and the clarity of a post-party sunrise.

Known for their raw charm and genre-blurring songwriting, the Swiss duo turns up the heat on Emotional Hardcore—with an album title that playfully hints at its inner contradictions. It’s their most melodic, pop-forward release yet, without losing the wild spark that’s earned them a reputation for “banger after banger.” It’s a sonic rollercoaster: pounding electronic beats and infectious hooks collide with honest, often self-deprecating lyrics that leave space for both laughter and lump-in-your-throat moments.

With Emotional Hardcore, Elio Ricca reinvent their sound significantly while staying true to their core principles: honesty and originality. Pop life meets underground grit, disco collides with grunge, synthwave crashes into punk, and Italian singer-songwriter influences intertwine with psychedelia. Where there were once rainbows and houses, now you’ll find rawer, more relatable themes like coping with ADHD, navigating societal pressure, and facing crumbling relationships.

From the pulse-pounding title track “Emotional Hardcore” to the bittersweet dream-pop glow of “Miele” (one of the band’s first songs in Italian), from the nostalgic anthemic journey of “Sometimes I Dream Up Places” to the raw fuzzed-out energy of “They Say They Say,” the album swerves between euphoria and vulnerability.

More electronic, more emotionally exposed, and more fun than ever, Emotional Hardcore finds Elio Ricca fully embracing the chaos and turning it into something that hits just right—on stage, in your headphones, or screaming along in the car at midnight.

Fokustrack Info EN:

"Sometimes I Dream Up Places" is a fresh spin on darkwave — lighter in tone, and loaded with post-punk attitude. The Band calls it dawnwave: nostalgic synths, indie-surf guitars, and a hook that sticks. A very simple and straightforward song that hints at something bigger just beneath the surface. Like a soundtrack for a ‘90s movie that never existed, with Nicolas Cage as your reckless partner in crime. Moody, catchy, and made for vibing, dreaming and driving into the sunset.