‘INTERWOVEN’ is a four-track split EP that binds together two of Denmark’s most forward-thinking heavy acts: HIRAKI and Meejah. Built on a shared appetite for boundary-pushing intensity, the collaboration channels the urgency of electronic hardcore, the spaciousness of experimental rock, and the emotional depth of cinematic metal into an immersive work that is at once confrontational and deeply connective. Across these four tracks, both bands challenge each other to step past familiar contours, unraveling and recombining their musical identities until a new hybrid shape emerges—volatile, textured, and unmistakably alive.

The idea to INTERWOVEN spawned in the dark stage room Gloria at Roskilde Festival 2022 during a concert by The Ocean where Mai Soon Young Øvlisen from Meejah stood in the audience, overwhelmed with a fast stream of thoughts before her inner eyes. Memories of the old East Berlin, the Book of the Dead, the black kitten she briefly had as a child, the heart weighed against a feather in the afterlife, when suddenly  The Ocean's vocalist Loïc Rossetti sat down in front of her - asking her if she was okay... “almost as if he sensed that one day he would ask me to sing a duet with him”, Meejah vocalist Mai Soon Young Øvlisen recalls.

HIRAKI, based in Aarhus, have carved out their own corner of abrasive electronic noise and fractured hardcore, marked by glitching synths, angular rhythms, and vocals that turn vulnerability into propulsion. Their music often feels like a system under pressure—fault lines spreading, signals clipping, tension breaking through in unpredictable bursts. The trio’s approach is raw yet meticulously sculpted, shaped by an instinct for pushing machinery, sound, and emotion to their limits.

Meejah, founded in Copenhagen, represent the other end of Denmark’s experimental spectrum: wide-ranging, atmospheric, and narratively rich. Drawing from avant-metal, post-rock, and electronic ambience, their compositions unfold in layers—meditative one moment, eruptive the next. The band’s work often feels like an exploration of liminal spaces, where cultural, sonic, and personal identities dissolve and reform in real time. Their ability to move fluidly between delicacy and ferocity makes them a natural counterpoint to HIRAKI’s sharper edges. Meejah recently released an incredible KEXP session that listeners should certainly check out.

“We have a shared love for the underground scene and also know each other from the network of Scandinavian artists in the JOHN CXNNOR project”, Mai explains -- John Cxnnor is the collaborative “doom rave” project tinitated by the Sejersen brothers of fellow Pelagic label mates LLNN. “The INTERWOVEN collaboration has induced a new set of emphases for the two Danish bands, demanding Meejah to go darker and heavier, while moving HIRAKI towards an experiment of intertwining complex expressions in a longer format.”

‘INTERWOVEN’ does not simply alternate between these worlds; it melds them. The EP imagines a collaborative environment in which both bands enter as architects of distinct sonic structures, yet leave as contributors to a shared, shifting organism. Instead of placing aesthetics side by side, the musicians blur roles and responsibilities.

“INTERWOVEN explores how dualities exist because of each other, lyrics about malice, control, contradictions and the existential self-awareness of one's choice to cause harm. The main theme is centered around a dichotomy of the victim and the executioner, innocence and revenge, - and how the executioner becomes a victim to the loss of their own humanity.“ (Mai Soon Young Øvlisen)

The opening track “Redirect Revenge” sets this tone immediately. Performed by Meejah and HIRAKI,bolstered by a standout guest appearance from Loic Rossetti (of The Ocean), the piece is a collision of emotional intensities. Meejah’s expansive sense of space provides a vast, slow-breathing foundation, while HIRAKI’s signature electronic abrasions carve serrated pathways through the soundscape. Rossetti’s unmistakable presence becomes the third gravitational center, pulling the track into a dynamic interplay between measured restraint and sudden outburst. Powerfully sombre lyrics and melancholic refrain gives way to a crushing stomp of distortion, as the track takes us through moments of calm respite punctuated with a rising intensity; contrasting delicacy and wailing agony. ‘Redirect Revenge’ exhibits a range of emotions, made all the more potent with the interplay between vocalists Mai Soon Young Øvlisen and Loic Rossetti, from sorrowful melody to a roaring in call and response.

“Loïc‘s vocal range is admirable. Highly emotional and forceful at the same time. Redirect Revenge needed a strong, emotional male counterpart for its duet part and we always had Loïc in mind – so we were very very happy when he said yes!“ (Mai Soon Young Øvlisen)

As the arrangement thickens, voices and textures fold into one another, creating a densely braided opening statement about the EP’s core intention: to bring contrasting energies into direct contact until they ignite.

“Working so closely together with another artist, you also get to understand their process, you hear the raw ideas, before they are resculpted and perfected. Getting to experience that is a very privileged and intimate thing as an artist.“ (Andreas Isbrandt Løvenskjold)

“All Contrast” is created with a more aggressive momentum, the track channels HIRAKI’s mechanical pulse and jagged rhythmic language. An unrelenting introduction of pulsating drums and hardcore sentiments ripped off the hinges, an atmosphere of suspension gives way to signature raging vocals. ‘All Contrast’ plays with space, jagged between the silences, wrestling with the beast until they find the groove, a march into new territory. Industrial, the guitar moving from dirge ridden melodies to bombastic chaos. The 2nd half of the track becomes a haunted come-down. Gravely touches, heavy breathing, play between analogue and synth, in the clearing a mix of spoken word and distant, painful shouting, contrasting internal agony and out of body ephemerality; claustrophobic one moment, beckoning the next.

Taken as a whole, ‘INTERWOVEN’ is more than a split release; it is an experiment in dissolving authorship. HIRAKI and Meejah treat collaboration not as a negotiation but as an act of mutual expansion. Each track glimpses a different configuration of their shared sonic universe, revealing how disparate artistic impulses can merge without losing their individuality. The EP lives in the tension between harsh and delicate, mechanical and organic, introspective and explosive. In combining their voices, both bands discover new tonal colors, new emotional languages, and new possibilities for creation.

“As someone who has played and followed post-rock and everything related to the post-genres for decades, Pelagic truly stands as a beacon. With a steadfast belief in the listeners’ ability to receive and understand music that demands investment and presence - but gives so much in return. And you feel that belief as an artist as well. At no point in the collaboration have our artistic merits been questioned or our musical outcome screened to see whether it fits into a predetermined box. Full creative freedom – no questions asked!“ (Tue Schmidt Rasmussen)

With its bold textures, emotional volatility, and fearless exploration of shared space, Interwoven stands as a powerful document of what happens when artists choose to blur their boundaries rather than defend them. Pelagic Records is proud to release this singular collaboration; an EP that invites listeners to step into the connective tissue between two of Denmark’s most adventurous bands, and to experience the electrifying sound of their worlds becoming one.

“We see MEEJAH x HIRAKI as a multiplication of the bands’ respective characteristics and strengths. Throughout 2026 we merge our forces into a singular unit as a new concert act “MEEJAH x HIRAKI”. Expect high intensity!“ (Andreas Isbrandt Løvenskjold)