New Music: Death Hags – Orphée 53

Technology and myths, ancient and modern, meet on Orphée 53 from the latest Death Hags album, BIG GREY SUN #5.

The New York based project balances mood and melody wonderfully on a track whose melancholic tones belie the ultimate positivity of the lyrics.

How it gets there isn’t the most straightforward route, as Death Hags – musician, songwriter and multimedia artist Lola G. – uses minimal wave sounds imbued with analogue warmth to reveal to the listener that life offers different paths for us all. If you’re a fan of Flora Fishbach’s Val Synth LP and the melodics of Xeno & Oaklander, the adventurous tones of Orphée 53 are for you.

“Orphée 53 is a leap of faith, a track about letting go and embracing change, about being optimistic in the future regardless of the present and jumping into the unknown,” says the artist. “The title evokes the archetype of Orpheus in Greek mythology and Western culture, who journeyed to the underworld to save his wife, Eurydice.”

“Orphée 53 is about letting go of the past and choosing the noise of the present over the dream of what once was, however scary, chaotic and fragmented it may be. The past is never as golden as we think.”

“The song is named after the first musique concrète opera, created in 1953 by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, which caused controversy by embracing modernity and the future in a world deeply rooted in tradition.”

BIG GREY SUN #5 and a 7” version of Orphée 53 are available on Bandcamp. For more information on Death Hags and their music, head to their Facebook and Instagram feeds.