*200 copies limited release* Artificial Owl Recordings is happy to release El miedo no es una opción, the new piano based ambient album from Julia Gjertsen and Nico Rosenberg. It's the third and final chapter in a collaborative triptych series that began with 2020's Distant Fields and continued with 2022's Paisajes Imaginarios. Gjertsen and Rosenberg also released the single "Despierta, llegamos" in 2025 on OPIA (the label run by Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds).

The album is out digitally, on cassette, and as a limited 12" vinyl edition pressed in just 300 copies. Gjertsen recorded in Oslo and Rosenberg in Berlin, the two sending sessions back and forth remotely. The album grew out of conversations about how fear spreads quietly and pulls people toward extremes, in an atmosphere that feels like a dystopia sitting just around the corner. That tension runs under a calm surface throughout the record. Nico Rosenberg recorded synthesizers, guitar and vocals; Julia Gjertsen recorded piano, synths and vocals.

The whole record was mixed to tape, which gives it a warm, analogue depth. The pieces move slowly, stay close to silence, and don't rush toward a payoff. El miedo no es una opción translates as "fear is not an option." The music doesn't argue against fear so much as offer an alternative: presence and attention. Built on real trust between two artists, this is a record to slow down with, one that rewards the time you give it.