Finnish electronic experimentalists Enphin will issue their debut/not-at-all-debut album, End Cut, through Pelagic Records on June 24. “The Non-Returners” (premiering in the video below) is the third single from the LP behind “Cut Flesh” and “Communion,” and if three seems like a lot of visual focus before the record’s out, the music earns the cinematic accompaniment. In the interest of full disclosure, Lauri Kivelä, Vesa Vatanen and I have been involved in a secret-so-far-type hard industrial project for more than the last year (there’s a record done, hoping to find someone to put it out). In Enphin, those two are joined by Joakim Udd and JP Koivisto, and the reason End Cut would be a “not-at-all-debut” is because Enphin are the latest incarnation of the band that used to be known as PH, and before that, were once the droned-out cosmos dwellers Mr. Peter Hayden. To their credit, the clue is right there in the logo: en-PH-in.

Putting End Cut and Enphin in that context, all of their releases are a turn from the one before, so that the same should apply to this 13-song/49-minute collection shouldn’t necessarily be a surprise. With the dance-ready opener “An Nihilist” — true nihilism manifest right in the grammar — and the electrogoth vibes of “Perpetual Night” and “Nothing,” the interlude-ish soundscapes of “The Test View,” “Kaiverrus,” “Drones” and the penultimate “Raunioina,” the meditative pulsations and synthesizer wash of “Moth,” “Communion”‘s heavier-landing beat and the more frenetic programmed chaos of “Protocosmic,” the four-piece bounce through moods and styles with out-there post-krautrock futurism and a Ulverian neo-New Wave atmosphere, progressive in construction and primal in much of the underlying rhythm despite the elaborate and well-mixed layers surrounding. The last PH album was 2019’s Osiris Hayden (review here) on Svart, and as they continue their seemingly perpetual evolution, one sound into the next, one guise into the next, Enphin carve out niches for themselves while creating a world that is no more dystopian than that in which we live (maybe less, this week), but that in the urgency of “Cut Flesh” and the slow-unfolding resolution of End Cut in “Sang Unity” ahead of “Raunioina” and the nine-minute self-acknowledging capper “Endling” still manages to feel like a new reality.

So it is. I’ve said on any number of occasions regarding PH and related outfits that theirs is a work of extremity, and that’s true of End Cut as well despite some moments that willfully evoke a poppish sensibility. Enphin will not be for everybody, and having written about them for a decade before knowing them more personally, they know it. But if it’s extreme, it’s a purposeful extremity. They’re not just blasting you with noise — and to say they are would be ignoring the dynamic shifts in volume, tempo and tone across the album’s span — each piece has an expressive position within the record’s entirety, even “Drones” with its obscure speech, off-kilter key notes bridging “Protocosmic” and “The Non-Returners” so they, like the rest of End Cut, flow together as one consuming, multifaceted entirety before the final wash of “Endling” moves with unhindered beauty into a blinding techno afterlife. Suffice it to say that anywhere Enphin go, they establish a claim on their territory that speaks to the members’ extensive history in trying something new, finding what works, and then using it to swallow listeners whole.

And while one may raise an eyebrow at the marketing strategy of changing the name of your band as readily as an album title, it’s hard to ignore how easily “The Non-Returners” slips into the unspoken narrative of the video that follows here. I’m not looking to give away the ending, but I think she killed a guy. In any case, the song’s methodical unfolding, effects-carrying melody and eerie vibe is emblematic if not nearly entirely representative of the full album, even in combination with the clips for “Communion” and “Cut Flesh” near the bottom of the post, so consider it more of a teaser than a stand-in for End Cut. You’ll find it plenty immersive for its four and a half minutes, just the same.

Please enjoy:

Enphin, “The Non-Returners” video premiere

For over 21 years, Finnish psych doom outfit ENPHIN have been pushing the envelope of their sound and their upcoming album End Cut sees the band incorporating elements of new age, synthpop and early electronica. Complemented by the ambient vocals of electro-pop singer Ringa Manner (Ruusut, The Hearing) ‘The Non-Returners’ listens like the sonic propaganda of a new authoritarian regime of extraterrestrials that sits nicely on playlists like Electronic X or pov: ur in an 80s film driving at night.

The discography of Finnish industrial outfit ENPHIN is marked by name changes and highly conceptual compositions exploring a Jungian-Alchemical spiritual progression theme. “Communion” is a dignified space doom overture in which the quartet from Kankaanpää proclaim the unity of all. Amidst shimmering synth textures and spirited moaning of members of the fairer sex, we find a feverish manifesto on the interface of early electronic music and psychedelic doom metal.

Tracklisting:
A1. “An nihilist”
A2. “Communion”
A3. “The Test View”
A4. “Perpetual night”
A5. “Kaiverrus”
C1. “Protocosmic”
C2. “Drones”
C3. “The non-returners”
C4.” Nothing”
B1. “Moth”
B2. “Cut flesh”
B3. “Dear Low Star”
D1. “Sang unity”
D2. “Rauniona”
D3. “Endling

LINEUP
Joakim Udd – synths, effects
Vesa Vatanen – guitar, vocals, programming
JP Koivisto – drums, guitars, vocals
Lauri Kivelä – bass

Enphin, Communion” official video

Enphin, “Cut Flesh” official video

Enphin on Facebook

Enphin on Instagram

Enphin on Bandcamp

Enphin Linktree

Pelagic Records website

Pelagic Records on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Instagram

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

Elusive Finnish psychedelic crushers Mr. Peter Hayden return with the 68-minute single-track offering, Born a Trip. The album – because, make no mistake, it is a full album – follows their 2010 debut, Faster than Speed (review here) and sees release on CD through Kauriala Society and 2LP through Mikrofoni. As a unit, the instrumental Kankaanpää five-or-six-piece continue to impress as they did last time around, though the scope of Born a Trip remains the same despite the jump in scale. Basically, Mr. Peter Hayden took what they did on the first album and doubled it, going from two tracks on either side of half an hour long each to one track on the far side of an hour. Whether or not that’s a great step in creativity, I’m not certain, but it’s an impressive jump in structuring the material and one a lot of bands fall flat making where Mr. Peter Hayden do not fall flat, instead excelling at crafting a singular work that rises and falls tidally, offering minute wave-like undulations to coincide with the larger push and pull. The band remains markedly individual in their approach to space rock, focusing more on the darkness and vastness than the rush of light or the jammed out feel present in so much latter day European psychedelia, and while the result of that is perhaps that Born a Trip has more in common with Faster than Speed than it might seem to if it also had a lot in common with other bands, there’s clear development of melodicism to complement the time increase; the record’s many ups and downs arriving heralded by a wash of melody in the double-guitars of V. Vatanen and J.P. Koivisto and the synths of Simo Kuosmanen, also of the richly creative Hexvessel and Dark Buddha Rising. Synths wind up playing a large role in filling out Mr. Peter Hayden’s sound – also enriched by a increase in production value since the last time – allowing Vatanen and Koivisto room to space out or start-stop in intricate rhythmic patterns while drummer T. Santamaa and bassist Lauri Kivelä hold the album’s single titular work together.

They cover a lot of ground in the 68 minutes of “Born a Trip” – I don’t want the previous paragraph to somehow convey that the growth here is mostly temporal – it’s not. Mr. Peter Hayden were hardly lacking for patience before, but here, it doesn’t even seem to be a question. Born a Trip breaks down into a series of intertwining movements, long progressive builds and apexes that crest one into the next as parts set each other up, play out, and then subside. Like a lot of heavy psych, one might argue enjoyment is proportional to volume, but Born a Trip is consuming no matter what level it’s played at, the initial build getting under way on a foundation of feedback, vaguely-melodic synth wash, rhythmic chug and drum thud. That initial tone-setting contorts the brain stem for a little more than the first 10 minutes, gradually solidifying the way one thinks of lava cooling off, and the next eight are given to an oddly-timed progression reminiscent of some of the quirky start-stops they worked into “Delta t=0” from Faster than Speed, inadvertently displaying some allegiance to heavy metal technicality without blatantly paying homage to Meshuggah’s inimitable internal clock — not that others haven’t tried to imitate it, they just suck at it almost entirely across the board. By keeping their own edge, Mr. Peter Hayden avoid the trap and put the djentery to work for them as part of their larger plan, building it up until just before 19 minutes in, they drop to quiet drones, echoed drums and subdued atmospherics, rife with volume-swelling guitar and ringing synth expanse. It’s another five minutes or so before they kick back in, and easy to get lost in the meantime, but when the guitars and the bombast start anew, Mr. Peter Hayden are quick to lock down one of the record’s most lasting grooves and top it with high-pitched guitar squeals that sound like some kind of far-off siren.

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It’s a hell of a sprawl, but there’s something about the complexity of the atmosphere created by Finnish heavy epic space purveyors Mr. Peter Hayden (named not for any member of the band) on their Winter Records/Post-RBMM full-length that not only holds interest, but envelops it. The album, dubbed Faster Than Speed and centered thematically on astrophysical notions on the nature of time, is comprised of two 33-minute songs – complete ideas in and of themselves – but where Mr. Peter Hayden really stand apart is in the construction and arrangement of their material. Grandiose heavy psych excursions are nothing new, even with the elements of metallic crunch that the Kankaanpää six-piece incorporate, but where many of their center-galaxy-bound peers fill their extended track lengths with heady jamming and an improv feel – nothing against it, it works wonderfully when done well – Mr. Peter Hayden don’t lose sight of song structure no matter how far out they go. That’s not to say that either “Smoke in Space” or “Delta t=0” feel overly composed or somehow contrived, just that there’s a charted course the players are following.

“Smoke in Space” begins its long journey literally from silence. The track is a long groundswell built on post-rock churn and brought to cohesiveness with the creative drumming of M. Marjamäki. S. Kuosmanen’s synth begins first, and gradually the rest of the unit joins in. This section of the song is essential in setting the atmosphere, and by that I mean that the song puts you in the world Mr. Peter Hayden are creating, so that you know what to expect in terms of pace and level of execution. It’s this quiet beginning and ultra-patient build – you could argue it lasts for 22 of the song’s total 33 minutes, though there are ebbs and flows within that time – that keep Faster Than Speed from losing the listener, since as you take on the album, you know right from the start that the ambience in which you’re embroiled is central to the music. You’re not waiting for the song to start, in other words. J.P. Koivisto and V. Vatanen, who join Kuosmanen on guitar, add some of the aforementioned metallic crunch, while bassist L. Kivelä thickens out the sound and keeps “Smoke in Space” from coming off as too tonally skeletal and the added percussion T. Santamaa, though featured more on “Delta t=0,” adds rhythmic flourish. The several shifts from loud to quiet feel natural and show admirable restraint on the part of Mr. Peter Hayden collectively, but like the entirety of Faster Than Speed, keep a natural, live feel that does best services the track’s presentation.

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