Danish quintet Iceage have delivered their first new music in five years with the new single “Star”, out on Mexican Summer.
In the interim since their great 2021 album Seek Shelter, vocalist Elias Rønnenfelt has delivered a few solo projects, but “Star” immediately reminds us why he works best as the leader of this unit. His bandmates – guitarist Johan Suurballe Wieth, drummer Dan Kjær Nielsen, guitarist Casper Morilla Fernandez, and bassist Jakob Tvilling Pless – lay out a version of jangle pop that has their signature seasick dynamism stamped all over it. While more mobile and accessible-sounding than many of their works (it even has handclaps!) there’s a grinding, muscular presence to their playing that adds grit to their singer’s words.
And Rønnenfelt himself is in top form, returning to one of his favourite topics – a love and lust so urgent that it pulls him to a place of near-deadly desperation. Amidst images of “eating cyanide” and “a pint of lead in my head”, he admits “every inch of my earth and sky, you can occupy”. The coup-de-grace comes in the earworm chorus, where he croons “You’ve got me dying like a star / centuries apart”, suggesting that this is an attraction that transcends space and time. With Rønnenfelt and Iceage’s dynamism, that feels entirely plausible.
Watch the video for “Star” below or find the track on streamers.
“Star” is out on Mexican Summer. You can find Iceage on Instagram and Facebook.
