The Coldwave Synth Sound and Where It Went on the STRIDULUM Album Paradigm

Marita Volodina and Arkadiy Berg Steer Silesian Darkwave Toward Melodic Synth-Pop

The STRIDULUM album Paradigm gets its synthesizers from Arkadiy Berg, stacked in layers under the voice of Marita Volodina. Manic Depression Records released it on 24 November 2023. As the Upper Silesian duo’s second full-length album, it takes their cold, minimal sound somewhere far more melodic. Guests Distance H and Ausen join on two of its ten tracks.

STRIDULUM’s title track Paradigm, with Ausen on bass, now sits in the playlist below, and the duo’s coverage history is collected on the STRIDULUM profile. The album came to ElectroPop.News through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Listen to the title track first, then read on for where the coldwave sound went.

---

Arkadiy Berg’s Synth Layers Turn Coldwave Minimalism Into Synth-Pop Hooks on the STRIDULUM Album Paradigm

Start with the division of labour, because it explains the record. Volodina writes the words and sings, while Berg plays the instruments. The duo formed in 2019 in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland, and they describe themselves as a retrofuturistic project from the carbon fields of the region. Even the name comes from university Latin: stridulum means a sharp, piercing sound.

Their early releases set out the starting point. The Burial EP arrived in April 2020 on Bat-Cave Productions. Then a first full-length album, Soothing Tales of Escapism, followed on Manic Depression Records in December 2021. Both sat firmly in what their label calls dark and cold electronic wave music, melancholic and minimalistic.

The STRIDULUM album Paradigm is where that sound went next. The machines stay cold, but the songs are built around hooks. Berg’s synth layers move between musical conventions, borrowing from several genres at once. Accordingly, the album’s own tags run from minimal wave and EBM to italo disco and ethereal wave. Meanwhile, the label describes it as a darkwave album with real radio potential and stresses how catchy and varied the songs are.

The opening track, Wasteland, is a good preview of that approach. Around two and a half minutes in, it opens into a stretch of ambient, trance-leaning electronics, a moment the Polish magazine Darkultura singled out in its review. In other words, the cold synth palette is the frame, and the melodic turns happen inside it.

Blood, Black and Red Run Through the Lyrics Volodina Writes for Paradigm

Volodina’s lyrics carry the other half of the contrast. Against the coolness of the music, the label points to how emotive and expressive Volodina’s vocals are, and the words give the voice plenty to work with. In a 2023 interview with the Polish site Kulturalne Media, Volodina explained that a text often grows from a single key word, one experience or simply a feeling.

The same interview explains the colours around the record. Black stands for loss, but also for boundlessness: a dark space that can be filled rather than an empty one. Red stands for blood, a motif that keeps returning in the duo’s lyrics, because blood means you are still alive. For Paradigm, the duo brought more of that red into their visuals.

The track themes follow suit. Astray deals with despair, desire, loss and transformation. Meanwhile, Debris and Eterna turn to guilt, lost love and friendship, and the pull of things that are gone for good. The album’s subtitle sums it up neatly: Songs of Nightmares & Daydreams.

Ten Tracks, Three Guests and a Silesian Studio Shape the Structure of the STRIDULUM Album

The STRIDULUM album Paradigm was recorded across 2022 and 2023 at Silesia Music Studio, then mixed and mastered by Andrzej Zębik. Volodina has said that mixing is always the hardest stage for the duo. After days of hearing the same songs, it becomes difficult to judge them with a cool head. The finished record runs to ten tracks and just under 48 minutes.

The structure is clearest in the middle of the album, where three guests arrive in a row. On Astray, the guitars come from Manu H of the Parisian darkwave project Distance H, adding a shoegaze edge to the synths. On the title track, Paradigm, the bass is played by Ausen of CrossRoad. Then Flame brings in guest vocals from Peer Lebrecht of Golden Apes and Voyna, whose deep voice pairs with Volodina’s. As a result, the middle of the record gets a clear change of colour. After that, Sorrow, Eterna and the closing Ephemeral return to the duo on their own.

Several of these songs also take their time. Astray runs to almost six minutes, and Ephemeral closes the album at well over five and a half. Post-Punk.com premiered the Astray video on release day. Directed by Adam Mróz and Anaïs Novembre, it was filmed across three locations, including La Guillotine Studio. Since then, the band’s YouTube channel has added the album track by track.

Where Paradigm Sits Next to Lebanon Hanover, Boy Harsher and She Past Away

Three names make useful reference points. Lebanon Hanover formed in Sunderland in 2010 as a duo in which both members sing and play synths, and their cold, minimal sound is close to where STRIDULUM began. Boy Harsher split the work the same way as Volodina and Berg, with Jae Matthews on vocals and Augustus Muller as producer. They even co-designed a drone synthesizer, The Runner, with Moffenzeef Modular in 2021. She Past Away started out with a guitar and bass sound in Bursa. Later they switched to a more electronic one, with Doruk Öztürkcan joining on keyboards and drum machine in 2015, and leaned into disco on Disko Anksiyete in 2019. That last route, from cold minimalism toward the dance floor, is the one Paradigm follows.

ElectroPop.News’s curator team:

“The synths on Paradigm stay as cold as anything on STRIDULUM’s early records, and the warmth comes from the melodies laid over them. That balance is what lets a darkwave album carry this much pop without going soft.”

Stream the STRIDULUM Album Paradigm and Follow the Duo on Every Platform

This one is for darkwave and coldwave listeners who want hooks with their gloom, and for synth-pop fans who like a melody in a minor key. Start the STRIDULUM album Paradigm with Wasteland and wait for the passage two and a half minutes in. Then let the guest run from Astray to Flame play through in order.

Listen to Paradigm on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and SoundCloud.

Follow STRIDULUM across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and X.

---

About The Author