Young And Cold Records YCR/162 (2024)

“Optograms” is the debut album by CORBEAU HANGS after a release of 3 digital singles.

CORBEAU HANGS is a fresh US-Darkwave project from Phoenix/Arizona that describes itself as “Darkwave from the hellholes of PHX”. Not much is known about CORBEAU HANGS yet, but they make no secret of the fact that they are part of the still bubbling Darkwave/Cold-wave-trend, mixing various influences from modern acts like Twin Tribes, She Past Away as well as classic artists such as Clan of Xymox, Pink Turns Blue... , it combines the rawness of post-punk with the ambience and grittiness of synths and drum machines. And that pretty much hits the nail on the head additionally you can certainly hear also some influences by the early Drab Majesty…

The basic of Drum Machines and spacey Synth sounds is complemented by driving, hammering and accentuated Wave Guitars and pleasantly non-clichd vocals. Despite the fundamentally melancholic mood, all of this is produced in a fresh, fluffy manner and immediately sticks in the listeners ears. It's difficult to single out individual songs because the album as a whole is very homogeneous and, with repeated listening, it creeps into the listener's head and doesn't leave it again.

Although there is a lot of competition in this musical style, you never know whether one or two songs will end up on the Club playlists and become instant hits for the Darkwave-scene?Who would have expected that at the beginning of acts like Bragolin or Twin Tribes? A lot depends on whether CORBEAU HANGS will hopefully soon be able to perform live...