What does Korfian sound like?

Darkwave angst and industrial brutalism mixed with Fado-esque vocals.

The review of ‘Digital Brutalism’ by Korfian

“Make me a star of apathy”, sings Korfian, on the opening track of his new album ‘Digital Brutalism’. It follows a two-year hibernation and reevaluation of his life and emotions, triggered by the death of his father. It seems their relationship was complex and nuanced, as Korfian’s father held rigid views of the world around him that Korfian did not share. Now empowered through loss to take back more control of his own time, energy, and narrative, Korfian is more confident and steadfast than ever to be who he wants to be.

That aggressive stance bears fruit in the aggressive, damaging cut and thrust of razor synths and brutal drum loops across the album. On previous albums, Korfian reminded me of Conan Osiris with his fluid, sometimes atonal approach to vocals. Here, that approach wears war paint, riffs observations without a warble, and uses a sledgehammer for a snare drum. The album opens with ‘Apathy Star’, which leans into the darkwave electronic tones of this album. The percussion has been crunched into hollow husks, whilst industrial noises and lonely tuned synths ring out as one of the few melodic elements of the track. In ‘Digital Brutalism’, Korfian slams “algorithm over connection” in a twisted Marc Almond fashion. The synths rumble, whirr, and pulsate with a throbbing drive that gets the blood pumping. It’s too heavy for the dancefloor, perhaps, but the angular approach is perfect for the goth pop and angst crowd.

We move into distorted dubs with the bass-heavy ‘348-844’ that uses dissonant backing vocals, a dubby rising bass and bell siren to set the tense mood. The choruses are entirely vocoded as a robot spews out how manipulated they can feel, and the organs late in the track hark back to lyrics that compare digital submission to a religion. We turn our laser aim from the digital system to the patriarchal system on ‘Father.exe’. It is the most dynamic track on the album, with the chorus leaning into rousing darkwave realisations of wrongdoing. There are no guitars on this album; it’s all electronic. So heavy is the weight of the synths, however, that at times it feels like a rock record. I think it’s because sonically the vocals and synths are often competing across each other for the same frequency, and they duel and dual up to deliver a powerful punch of music. ‘Your System’ is percussion first, melody second, as a visceral bitcrunched mangled mess of drumloops contend with Korfian’s poetic approach to clickbait and going down an internet rabbit hole.

The final two tracks on the release are the two that most closely resemble Korfian’s previous work. ‘Rolos’ has a detuned Greek twang to its synth work that works a treat alongside the more Fado-esque vocal delivery. It’s the sole Greek sung track on the album, which gives it a certain operatic licence, too. The closing track, ‘Narita’, brings in chiptune bleeps and synth seagull squawks for a short and moody finale. I’d have liked this song to have been fleshed out further, as it has legs (or wings) for more in its scope and doesn’t quite wrap the album up in the strongest suit.

As visceral as it is cathartic and pointed, ‘Digital Brutalism’ is an evolution of Korfian’s sound. From beginning to end, Korfian transitions his own voice from rigid apathy to one that is dynamic and free-flowing again. I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but it tells a story of Korfian regaining his sense of self again and embracing it wholeheartedly. That said, the internet and digital life are certainly not going to be top of his Christmas card list this year. Poetic yet still critical of how modern life is making us lonely, I think we’ll find Korfian doing his own thing with gusto from 2025 onwards. I’m excited to see what happens next.

Recommended track: Father.exe

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