Finnish dark folk outfit Ínkar released their single 'Meri' • GRIMM Gent

Dark folk band Ínkar, who released their debut album Maailmojen väli in 2023, shared their new single Meri with a delicate video. The band, which spices up their dark-toned folk with elements of prog and doom, also attracted international attention with their single Turmion tie, released last autumn, as people fell in love with the beauty of the Finnish language combined with the spices stemming from nature and northern music tradition.

The band itself mentions Heilung, Wardruna and Chelsea Wolfe, comparing the music of Ínkar, where the tunes envelop the listeners as part of a story told in the embrace of shadows.

“If the first album swore by live aesthetics and was based on the idea of a traditional band, Turmio’s path took him towards dark folk and it was also nicely noticed on international playlists. The now published Meri combines these two; band and dark folk production,” the band says.

Pedro Bergamo, who previously worked as the band’s guitarist, has moved on to become the band’s producer after recording the song, and the band has at the same time thrown themselves into even more ambitious and experimental waters – not forgetting the poetry, ethereal, gloomy and menacing atmosphere at the heart of Ínkar.

Says the band’s primus motor, composer and vocalist Elina Launimaa about the single:

“The single Meri was born from the phrase ‘don’t roar the sea so hard’. It encapsulates the feeling of despair, in which the narrator hopes that something that seems impossible will simply disappear because he does not know how to fix it. As usual for Ínkar, the lyrics are strongly based on nature. In the piece, the sea symbolizes security, the omnipotence of which the narrator has blindly trusted. That security can be an unbreakable parent in the eyes of a child, a friend who is used to supporting their loved ones, health – or nature, whose malaise we refuse to see”.

It is precisely the uncontrollability of the sea that makes the narrator of the song small, helpless and childish in the face of a problem. The childish tone of the lyrics emphasizes the feeling of helplessness, whether to run into hiding or the sadness of the sea hides behind the breakwater? Who could comfort the sea now?

“The magic of the song probably lies in its multidimensionality, but at the moment, its strongest message is in man’s relationship with nature. The sea grieves for us, but we refuse to see it. Until its grief rolls over us.”

The same closeness to nature can also be seen in the music video filmed and directed by producer Pedro Bergamo, which was filmed in Killingholma, Laajasalo.

“We had no intention of making a full-length music video, but one morning a wonderful mist called us to film. Usva had time to retreat to the sea before we got there, but it worked as a great mood creator. Staring at the misty sea, I felt the song so strong in the fog that I cried several times,” Elina admits.

Ínkar will have select gigs in the autumn, and the next time the band can be seen live at the Espoo Pakanafestarit on October 12. Tickets for the event at Dipoli are now on sale here.