The Abyss
Avgrunden

MovieScore Media presents the original score from the 2023 action drama feature film The Abyss (Avrgunden) directed by Richard Holm, starring Tuva Novotny, Peter Franzén and Kardo Razzazi, composed by Lasse Enersen, produced by Mjölk Movies and SF Studios, released by Netflix.

MovieScore Media presents the original score from the 2023 action drama feature film The Abyss (Avrgunden) directed by Richard Holm, starring Tuva Novotny, Peter Franzén and Kardo Razzazi, composed by Lasse Enersen, produced by Mjölk Movies and SF Studios, released by Netflix.

The Story:

Frigga, who tries to balance her risky job as a security manager in the Kiirunavaara mine with her family life, has to fight for her life and the lives of her loved ones when her city starts collapsing into the mine.

The Score:

« Composing the score for The Abyss was an emotional journey, mirroring the dual narratives of a city on the brink of disaster and a family grappling with its disintegration.
My approach was to blend these themes, treating the crumbling city and the family’s unraveling as one story. The music not only underscores the terror of the mine’s collapse and the city’s descent into chaos but also delves into the nuanced emotional landscape of a family navigating the aftermath of divorce.
The goal was to encapsulate the many emotions that such events evoke, crafting a soundscape that resonates with beauty amid despair.
The score’s terror elements are crafted with slow, gliding synth bass lines that evoke the unsettling sensation of the earth shifting unpredictably. This sense of instability is further amplified inside the claustrophobic confines of the mine, where programmed synths mimic the distressing sound of malfunctioning alarm signals rather than traditional musical notes.
A recurring motif in the score is a chord progression that perpetually descends, symbolizing the relentless sinking feeling and the absence of a stable foundation, much like the city and the family’s fortunes.
This effect is achieved using a piano treated with heavy delays, allowing the chords to cascade down the mine shafts and reverberate back up. A distinctive feature of the soundtrack is the use of vintage Soviet-era synthesizers (Soma Synths), renowned for their unique, handcrafted soundscapes.
These instruments are pivotal in creating an organic audio experience where no two sounds are identical, adding a layer of authenticity and unpredictability to the score.
Our collaboration with the director Richard Holm, which started a few years earlier with the action packed TV series Machinery, has proved to be very fruitful, and we see movies in a very similar way: exciting, entertaining and emotional. » – Lasse Enersen


The Composer:

Finnish composer Lasse Enersen has been creating distinctive scores to internationally recognized films and series for over a decade. MovieScore Media previously released his scores for Tuesday Club and There’s Something in the Barn. Lasse studied classical composition in Sibelius Academy (University of the Arts Helsinki), studying with Erkki Jokinen and Paavo Heininen. In 2004, he won first prize at the international Waterworks Composers Competition for his work Agua Nocturna for Solo Cello and Mixed Choir. Lasse is perhaps most well-known for his scores to Tom of Finland (which he scored with the Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir), and The Unknown Soldier (the highest grossing film in Finnish history).
Enersen’s unique approach to the score, combining Nordic folk, orchestral, electronic, and avant-garde idioms, caught the attention of Renny Harlin, who tapped him to score a Chinese tentpole film Legend of the Ancient Sword and the US production Misfits for Harlin with co-composer Trevor Rabin.
Lasse has been very active scoring films and TV series in Europe. He recently completed the score to the big budget Swedish catastrophe movie release The Abyss with Johan Falk director Richard Holm.
He is currently scoring a Swedish Netflix film Stolen, a first ever Sami crime thriller. Lasse began his scoring career working on numerous international documentary feature films including In the Dark Room (Nadav Schirman) and Battle for Rio (Gonzalo Arijon). In his time in Los Angeles, he worked for Oscar-winner Alexandre Desplat, Remote Control Productions’ Heitor Pereira, and BAFTA-winner Abel Korzeniowski.
A self-confessed cinema buff, Enersen currently works and lives in Finland, and enjoys literature, chess, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

MMS24010 The Abyss (Avgrunden) (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by Lasse Enrsen
Release date: February 23, 2024

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More info at: Composer Lasse Enersen Official Site

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