Digital Brutalism | Dissecting my latest album

This post is to keep record of my thoughts as well as the process that led to the birth of Digital Brutalism, my latest album as Korfian. The release of Digital Brutalism marks 2 years since the passing of my father and is my personal most important musical project to date. If you still haven't listened to it, I hope this gets you warmed up. Let's take it from the top:

I chose Apathy Star to lead Digital Brutalism because it encapsulates the album's concept concisely. It felt like the ideal introduction due to its short duration—without that taking away from its value as a complete piece, at least to my ears. Apathy Star speaks to the paradox of feeling lonelier than ever in a world that is, theoretically, more connected than ever. It reflects on how countless choices end up paralyzing us rather than motivating us, leaving us empty in the end. I’ve received both positive and negative feedback—mostly criticism about the use of the crown of thorns in the video. So here’s a chance to explain: for me, it was simply a metaphor intended to portray how isolating and painful the burden of comparison and digital solitude can feel. Nothing more.

The second track, Digital Brutalism, began as an experiment but quickly took on a life of its own. This piece almost demanded to be intense—perhaps even suffocating—to evoke the weight we often feel while existing within social media. In Digital Brutalism, I combine the architectural aesthetic of Brutalism with the emotional coldness of the digital realm. Just as Brutalism favors function over beauty, social networks favor algorithmic performance over genuine human connection. The track lent its name to the entire album due to its heavy electronic nature and how strongly it represents the core themes around our existence within digital spaces.

During the research phase of creating this album, I revisited films like 1984, Equilibrium, and THX-1138—stories about dystopian regimes where individuality is erased, and every form of human expression is controlled by a higher power. Track 348-844 was born from that exploration. It deals with our submission to consumerism and blind obedience to systems that offer only the illusion of safety. The video is inspired by George Lucas’s THX-1138 and shows a controlled worker examining a rebel who has stopped taking the sedative pills that kept him numb. I’m especially proud of this piece because the final result far exceeded my expectations.

The track Father.exe will feel familiar to those who’ve heard my earlier work. It carries a vocal intensity and anger that I’ve started to move away from over time. It’s one of the two most personal tracks on the album and deals with our need for control as a deep form of insecurity. It speaks to how we’re raised to please others so we can control the image they have of us—to judge and compare so we feel stronger. The .exe extension symbolizes how we execute instead of consciously act when we’re forced into situations where we don’t truly belong.

Returning to the theme of our 'digital selves', we arrive at Your System. Here, the internet is personified and a dialogue begins between us and it. A strange exchange where we warn it that if the limits are crossed, we’ll cut its power and reclaim control over ourselves—our attention, energy, and time, which we’ve allowed it to steal. I wanted the dialogue to have a seductive, even erotic tone, to capture the twisted dependency we have on it—and its own reliance on us. That’s what I tried to express in the choruses.

Rolos is about the value of self-awareness and self-respect that one earns with time, and how crucial they are in any kind of relationship—not just romantic. It’s the second most personal track on the album -100% autobiographical-, written to help me strengthen my confidence and learn to claim my desires without guilt or shame. It celebrates unapologetic self-expression and the pursuit of one’s authentic identity, no matter the obstacles.

Finally, Narita is a small tribute to the video game Narita Boy which partly inspired this album. The game explores our obsession with the digital world, as its protagonist tries to defeat an evil force threatening to escape the digital domain and conquer the real world. I aimed to recreate the feeling of a retro video game while also channeling the sci-fi character of the synthwave movement.

You can listen to Digital Brutalism at the link below and share your thoughts with me. I'd love to hear back from you.

https://korfian.bandcamp.com/album/digital-brutalism