I’ve been struggling with some of the progressive music releases over the last month, I will admit. Nothing really stands out for me. Then I remembered Jahrund’s Inverted Paradise from January and how I had never really written some words about it. So here I am.
Jahrund come to us from Germany. They appear to be rather secretive. It’s hard to find much information about them, even though they have videos, a website, social media, etc. I think they are the duo of Vladimir Vanian and Ekaterina Elterman. Hopefully they correct me if I’m wrong.
They play electronic music that leans into both synthwave and alternative. Their music uses a boatload of synth and electronic beats, and the vocals are rather hazy and melancholy. I find their songs to be quite inventive at times, and incredibly catchy in others. They layer the synth, crafting some truly beautiful, serene, and smoky atmospheres.
But the album is also full of cold mist, like frigid veins below the surface. The lyrics address the state of the world today, a paradise that humans are daily working to ruin. There is a sense of survival in such a world, yes, but there’s also the feeling that every act of creation and resilience is defiance against the ruined paradise, like bringing nirvana back to Earth. Much of it is subtle, but I feel it in my bones.
Inverted Paradise has twelve songs, and for my money, it slows a bit in the middle while the beginning and ending thirds are pure fire. I’ll explain. The first four songs are absolutely flawless, in my opinion. “Your Girl Android Has No Blood” is the opener and is instantly likeable with its attractive beat and winding vocals. Like much of the album, the hooks are downtempo, which makes me like it even more. “Violent Horizon” comes next with a swelling synth style that is incredibly immersive, so engaging that it flows into “Deviant Dusk”, a fully instrumental track full of breath and hesitation. It’s amazing.
Then comes my favorite song “The Loony Bin”. This one transitions through shades of melancholy and energy, hitting perfectly. It just makes you want to bob your head along, but the lyrics are also deep, and the overall sound is gritty. I love it.
The next four tracks are all solid to great. I find “Reborn from the Ashes” to have some of the most potent lyrics on the album, plus some of the coolest synth. “Blue Light Hunter” is another instrumental piece, feeling like crystalline and filtering spectrums of light. It’s beautiful. Then comes “Oceans Roar”, which actually feels quite cosmic and distant. I love the pensive synth in the middle. This section ends with “Darkness That Blinds”, which features some of the grittiest synth overall, like a pluming fuzz.
The last four tracks are even better. “Delirium” leans into the alternative grit, eased by the accessible beat and flowing chorus. I love the vocals on that one. “Twilight Veil” is yet another instrumental piece, probably my favorite of them on the album. I adore the dark cityscape sound, that burgeoning energy and mist. It is gorgeous. “Time Bleeds Away” feels fleeting, like the song is going to escape from your grasp any second. I find it so fitting as the vocals end and the closer begins, being “Melea 2078”, another instrumental. It ends the album with abstract shades of synth color, swirling and meshing and filtering with intensity and vibrance.
Jahrund have such a coherent record that it almost feels like a concept album. The music is engaging and gorgeous with all the right hints of alternative, synthwave, darkwave, and downtempo genius. It just makes you want to listen again right away, and it’s such a refresher for the brain.
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Find Jahrund online:
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The PROG Mind 