NURKO Channels Heartbreak Into Hope on Debut Album ‘Solstice’

There is a duality at the heart of NURKO’s music. For more than a decade, the New York-based producer born Jack Leech has created records capable of filling enormous spaces while exploring some of the most intimate corners of human emotion. Euphoria and melancholy, hope and heartbreak, darkness and light have continually collided within his cinematic take on melodic bass.

On Solstice, his 19-track debut album, those contrasts become more personal than ever. The title itself provides the key to understanding the record. Rather than simply evoking celestial imagery, Solstice represents the possibility of emerging from darkness, an idea rooted in NURKO’s own experiences and his belief in music as a source of comfort. “Solstice, summer solstice in particular, is the longest day of the year,” he explains. “It’s the day where there is the most light. The album’s hidden meaning would be mental health and that light representing a light being at the end of the tunnel.”

That metaphor runs throughout an album dealing openly with healing, heartbreak, grief, resilience and ultimately hope. “No matter whatever you are going through, things will be okay,” he says. “My goal for this album is that the music serves as a tool if you are ever going through a rough time. Music is a form of therapy for me.”

That idea isn't abstract. Much of Solstice was created while NURKO was experiencing one of the most difficult periods of his own life. “I made the majority of the album when I was going through a pretty rough breakup from a long-term relationship,” he reveals. “It was a very dark period of my life.”

Rather than retreating from those emotions, he channelled them directly into the studio. The result is a record that, despite its huge production and impressive cast of collaborators, functions as something approaching an emotional diary. “For me, making music is my way of pouring my emotions out,” he says. “So, when you hear the album, you’re hearing my process of going through that rough time. Some were good, some were bad. But this album is my pure heart and soul being poured into music.”

Vulnerability has long existed within NURKO's work. Early releases such as Goodbye and Your Embrace helped establish his atmospheric, emotionally charged sound, while subsequent records including Let Me Go and Sunsets pushed his music towards an increasingly international audience. His 2018 remix of Halsey's Without Me amassed more than 50 million YouTube streams, while collaborations and remixes with artists including Gryffin, Seven Lions, Said The Sky, JVKE, Adventure Club and Dabin continued that ascent.

Yet Solstice takes the emotional openness underpinning much of that music and places it firmly at the centre of the project. “I don’t think it was difficult,” NURKO says of exposing such a vulnerable part of himself. “Sometimes when I’m the most vulnerable is when I can end up making the best music. It’s a bit of a blessing, in a way.”

Capturing that emotional spectrum across 19 tracks meant deliberately resisting the temptation to lock the album into a single mood or genre. Instead, Solstice moves between moments of sadness and release, intimacy and scale. “I wanted the album to feel like a journey,” he explains. “There are some songs that sometimes feel a little bit on the more upbeat side, whereas some are a lot more sad. I felt that mixing up the vibe and genres in a particular way would create a unique listening experience.”

That variety extends to the way individual songs were constructed. Sometimes the voice provided the starting point; elsewhere NURKO arrived with an instrumental framework that could then be shaped alongside a vocalist. “Some of the songs were started from vocals that were already made by the vocalist,” he says. “Those were the ones where I built the song around the vocal. An example of that would be Lifetime with Amidy. Whereas some songs I was there during the writing process where I already had the instrumental made. An example of that would be Wish You Well with Linney.”

That relationship between songwriting and production is fundamental to the NURKO sound. Having grown up in a musical family and learned both piano and drums from an early age, his instrumental background still feeds directly into the speed with which he can translate an emotion or musical idea into the studio. “Piano definitely helps a lot,” he says. “It makes it very easy to have an idea in my head and convey it into the DAW very quickly. Once I have a nice chord progression, I’m usually able to make a melody I really like pretty quickly. The drums help as well too because I often drum my patterns in on my drum pad.”

Over the years, however, the sonic dimensions surrounding those melodies have changed considerably. “My sound evolved from a much more ‘chill’ vibe to a more big, wall of sound with my signature leads,” NURKO explains.

On Solstice, he wanted to push that evolution further. “There were definitely some songs where I could take it a bit further,” he says, pointing towards the second drops of Firestorm and All Gonna Change. “Those drops were completely unique and had a sound I’ve never really done before. Also, the drop for For You with Micah Martin was a nice twist on my sound. I definitely made sure to include a lot of new stuff that people haven’t particularly heard before from me.”

The album's expansive guest list provided another opportunity to move beyond familiar territory. Kiesza, iann dior, Micah Martin, Casey Cook, Crystal Skies, Amidy, Monika Santucci, VNDETTA and Stefan PVDS are among those contributing to the project, creating a cross-genre cast that reflects NURKO's increasingly broad musical world. “All of them are amazing artists,” he says. “Kiesza is on some of my favorite dance records, so it was an honour to work with her. Iann Dior I’ve also been a fan of for quite some time. Juice WRLD is one of my favourite artists and there are only a few that still capture that sound.”

There are collaborators with whom the chemistry is almost immediate. “Micah Martin’s voice is just incredible and like no other, so I love working with him,” he adds. “Crystal Skies are incredibly talented melodic producers, so it’s always a pleasure to work with them. The song process tends to go pretty quick because we both have such a similar vibe that the song just flows naturally.”

Other collaborations required him to rethink his instincts. Missing Me Too, in particular, pulled NURKO towards a more restrained dance-pop aesthetic. “It was definitely a tough one,” he admits. “It is definitely more on that dance-pop side, which I’m not 100% used to making. I definitely had to pull back production for that one, trying to keep the minimal dance-pop vibe intact.”

Collaboration has already produced some defining moments in NURKO's career. None has been bigger than Sideways, his 2021 record with ILLENIUM and Valerie Broussard. The single reached the top 10 of Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic chart and has accumulated more than 40 million streams. “It was definitely an honour to work on that song,” NURKO reflects. “Not only is ILLENIUM an amazing human, but he also has been an inspiration to me from when I started to make melodic music. Sideways was the perfect blend of our sounds combined.”

Its longevity has arguably been as meaningful as its commercial success. “I’m pretty honoured that he still plays it all the time at his shows,” NURKO says. “It means a lot that it’s one of his more popular songs and did very well.”

His own relationship with audiences has developed considerably since his early music began appearing through influential YouTube channels Chill Nation and MrSuicideSheep in 2015. The 2022 Arrival EP led into his first headline tour, including shows at New York's Webster Hall and Los Angeles' Hollywood Palladium, while subsequent projects Discovery and UNITED continued expanding his reach.

Behind the numbers, however, another relationship was developing. Fans increasingly began telling NURKO that his music had accompanied them through difficult moments in their lives. “The most frequent is that many people have said that my music has gotten them through extremely dark times,” he says. “It means a lot to hear that.”

Some stories are too personal to repeat, something he is careful to respect, but one has remained particularly vivid. “One that sticks out is that it helped a fan go through a very rough divorce,” he recalls. “She said it was her comfort music to process those times.”

Those exchanges ultimately became part of the inspiration for Thrive Together, the mental health initiative launching in direct connection with Solstice. Operating under the banner “Healing through music. Together,” the project is intended to turn the community surrounding NURKO's music into something capable of creating tangible support through benefit events, storytelling, awareness campaigns and partnerships with mental health organisations. “It was mainly because of how many people have told me how much the music had helped them during dark times,” he explains. “My fan base is already very community driven. For example, we make patches that people can trade for their jerseys, so I wanted to extend that community a little further.”

At its core is a desire to challenge the stigma that can still surround conversations about mental wellbeing. “In much of society being ‘depressed’ or ‘sad’ is still almost looked at with the wrong lens,” NURKO says. “It should be looked at the same way as if you had a cold or broke your arm and needed to go to the doctor for that. There shouldn’t be any shame in things not being okay.”

It brings the wider Solstice concept full circle. Darkness exists, but so does the possibility of emerging from it. “I hope the community can help turn that into things being okay,” he adds, “because they will be.”

The world surrounding the album will also extend far beyond the record itself. A Solstice-themed tour is set to begin in March 2027, with dates across North America, and NURKO is already imagining how the record's celestial symbolism can translate into a live environment. “The theme for this live show would definitely revolve around more of a space theme, highlighting the aspects in space of the solstice,” he explains. “There will be a lot of tricks with the lights that emulate the solstice.”

His ambition for the concept goes considerably further. “My goal is to one day have my own festival called Solstice that would take place during the winter and summer solstice.”

It is a striking ambition for an artist whose journey began more than a decade ago with music finding an audience through YouTube channels. But if there is one lesson NURKO would send backwards to the young producer who was making those early records, it has less to do with streams, charts or headline venues than preserving the reason he started creating in the first place. “I would say keep having fun,” he says. “The music industry can become more and more demanding the more you grow and I would like to tell my younger self: don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

After an album born from heartbreak, vulnerability and the search for something brighter on the other side, that sentiment feels particularly fitting.

“This will always be about having fun,” NURKO says, “and spreading your art.”

Nurko – Solstice is out now. Grab it on Beatport HERE.

Read the full interview with NURKO on The Night Bazaar website HERE.