Behind Future Classic: orphantwin in the studio

The name orphantwin is rooted in the work Cory Brandan and Matthew Putman had already been doing together. Matthew helped write, produce, engineer and add percussion to Norma Jean's 2019 album All Hail, including the opening song “Orphan Twin”. When the brothers returned to working together during the 2020 shutdowns, ideas that might initially have belonged to Norma Jean moved in a different direction. What emerged was a distinct two-person project, free to follow stranger sounds and shorter arrangements rather than copy the bigger band's established approach.

The brothers' shared history is central to the identity. Cory has explained that people sometimes mistook them for twins because of their similar mannerisms and appearance. For him, orphantwin evokes the idea of a brother reflected in another world. Both remain the project's permanent creative core. Their connections to other bands provide context, but orphantwin is its own artist and should not be merged with Norma Jean or the track that inspired its name.

A recording studio used as an instrument

The project was conceived as an experimental studio playground. Matthew described a preference for brief, concentrated songs, informed by childhood listening that included Angel Hair, Burned Up Bled Dry, Voivod and Slayer. The material takes those abrasive and unpredictable influences into a production environment built around samples, stretched audio, edits, manipulated textures and synthetic sound design. Guitars and hard-hitting drums remain important, but the brothers were willing to splice, layer and transform sounds until a two-piece could suggest a much larger band.

The resulting music shifts between frantic hardcore, metallic guitar work, atmospheric passages, electronic pulse and melody. The duo used the phrase “garage pop” for its approach, although that barely prepares listeners for the abrasion and glitch effects. This is not simply a quieter Norma Jean project. Its distinctive feature is the freedom to rearrange sounds and genres without the usual expectations attached to the musicians' other work.

Future Classic and its recording

Solid State Records released the six-song Future Classic EP on 3 June 2022, following the double single “Deathsurf” and “Headphones or Die”. The EP runs a little over seventeen minutes. Its track list is “Negative Threads”, “Deathsurf”, “Headphones or Die”, “The Glimpse”, “llovvlless” and “Hominy”. The songs move quickly, often changing textures within a couple of minutes.

The official album credits name Michael Palmquist, Cory Brandan and Matthew Putman as producers, with Palmquist also mixing the record at Spire Studio. Recording took place across Spire Studio in Springfield, Missouri, Electric Nebraska in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Unwork in Van Buren, Arkansas. Adam Cichocki mastered the EP. Cory is credited with vocals, guitar, bass, synth and sampling. Matthew handled drums, percussion, sound design, sampling, synth and backing vocals. These credits underline how extensively the duo built the recordings themselves rather than relying on a conventional full-band lineup.

Other musicians contributed to particular songs without becoming standing members: Grayson Stewart played additional guitars on “Negative Threads” and “The Glimpse”, while Matt Marquez added production to “Headphones or Die”. On the closing “Hominy”, the brothers were joined by Adam Putman on piano and Tristan Putman on French horn. The label describes that song as an unusually personal family collaboration, with Cory explaining that he wrote it as a love song for his wife. Its softer, more spacious ending is a marked contrast to the EP's opening intensity.

Deathsurf, anxiety and interpretation

Matthew identifies “Deathsurf” as the recording that set the project in motion. Cory connected its imagery to a disturbing dream about trying to bring people to safety as an enormous wave approached, only to discover another wave tall enough to swallow the sky. He also described the project as a place where the brothers could draw on memories, fears and the ways their minds process experience. The song turns that sense of being overwhelmed into a collision of samples, electronics and heavy riffs.

Cory has said he wanted the music to offer escapism, without a prescribed political or personal agenda, and that its lyrics are open to interpretation. In contrast, Scott Fryberger's June 2022 review for Jesus Freak Hideout reads some passages on Future Classic through themes of spiritual uncertainty, anxiety and a search for God. That is a useful independent interpretation for readers of Waken The Dead, but it should not be confused with the band's declared lyrical programme. The record can be discussed within Christian alternative music while respecting the ambiguity its writers deliberately left in place.

Source notes: Solid State Records artist biography; Future Classic official album and credits; Atom Splitter PR release announcement; HM Magazine announcement; Jesus Freak Hideout critical review.