Finnish doom and post-metal artist Harri Kauppinen has returned after a decade-long silence with ABANDONED OCEAN, a new English-language project. The debut release, the ‚Inner Dusk‘ EP, blends lo-fi, doom, and post-metal elements into an intimate singer-songwriter framework, marking Kauppinen’s first new music since 2016.Finnish musician Harri Kauppinen has re-emerged from a lengthy hiatus with a brand-new musical identity. His new project, ABANDONED OCEAN, serves as the vehicle for his English-language material, and arrives with the debut EP ‚Inner Dusk‘ — a brooding, atmospheric work that sits at the intersection of post-metal, doom, and lo-fi songwriting.
Kauppinen, who last released music under his own name in 2016 with the Finnish-language solo album ‚Helvetin laulut‘, describes the creative experience with characteristic introspection: „After a long break, it’s great to see that I still get excited when a whole and damn dark song is built out of total emptiness. It’s one of the greatest experiences music offers me.“
While the compositions are entirely Kauppinen’s own, the EP features contributions from notable Finnish musicians: Teemu Liekkala (RIOGHAN, RED ELEVEN) and Otto Närhi (PSYCHEWORK, NESTRUCTION), both of whom, along with Kauppinen, were members of the dark metal outfit BEYOND THE DREAM between 2005 and 2014. Completing the lineup is producer Hiili Hiilesmaa, known for his work with KYPCK, SWALLOW THE SUN, and HIM.
The three-track EP — comprising ‚Escaping from It All‘, ‚Unpleasant Light‘, and ‚I Am the Darkness‘ — is described as a narrow passageway into a gloomy world, yet one that carries within it a fragile thread of hope. ‚Inner Dusk‘ is self-released and available now on all major streaming platforms. A lyric video for ‚Unpleasant Light‘ is also available on YouTube.