While 2020's JEWELS showed that the boys were back after a long hiatus, their long-term goal of making an upbeat rock album was diverted due to the ongoing horrors that the world was going through. STRANGE ANGELS, as always, was born out of out Evan & Dave's unique musical chemistry, but the production after the fact took months.

Overall, CHand completed over 30 songs that were fully produced, using the widest array of instruments they ever had access to. Cutting it down to a tight 12 tracks was difficult (some songs reappeared on the RAINLADIES EP and as B-sides), but the completed album has a unique sonic edge and a story to tell. Guitars are back in the biggest way possible, going for open-heart explorations to full-thunder rock cutters.

The band has never rocked as hard as they do on "The Better Version of Me", nor have the taken listeners to realms of rolling bliss like on "In the Absence of Angels". Tracks like "Better As Pelts" and "You Can't Run for Cover" reek of pointed despair, while the "This Can't Be Heaven" may be one of the brightest pop-rock numbers the group has ever penned.

Yet the record's focal point is the closing number "One Pair of Lungs (Ghostlike Neutrinos)", which has the power of a hymn but the lyrics that point to nothing but death and survivor's guilt: the perfect summation of Corresponding Handpieces' overall insane aesthetic. The group has been building up to a record like STRANGE ANGELS for a long time, and now it's here to watch over you.