Iceage announce new album ‘For Love of Grace & the Hereafter’ and release new single ‘Ember’
Iceage by Alva Le Febvre
“[‘Star’] is so magnetically cool… it makes ‘dying like a star’ sound less like chaotic implosion than the height of glamour, mystique, and sex.” - Pitchfork, Best New Track
“‘Star’ struts along with a stylish dance punk jangle as Rønnenfelt professes his most heart-eyed desires.” - Stereogum, Best Song of the Week
"A euphoric rock song about love where you can hear so clearly its elemental parts that it makes you want to join a band." - Loud & Quiet, Track Of The Week
"‘Star’ might be Iceage’s most unapologetic love-laden song yet... it swallows everything in its path and leaves you spun raw, reeling, burning, and entirely, brilliantly alive." - So Young
“‘Star’ really does shine as a beacon for the band’s next era.’” - Consequence
Iceage today announce their sixth studio album, For Love of Grace & the Hereafter, will be out 29th May via Mexican Summer and release the new single “Ember”.
Produced and mixed by the band and Nis Bysted, For Love of Grace & the Hereafter is Iceage’s tightest album to date, even glossy at times, but not tight enough to dull its pulse. With wordless howls, nastily detuned riffs that bend into harmony, breakdowns, handclaps, and a chaotic choral break seemingly played on pennywhistles, For Love of Grace & the Hereafter is a showcase of the band’s fundamental curiosity and trust in their instincts. There is no affectation or prescription to this record - no palette of curated influence or sought sound. It is the sum total of inspirations, shared openly in the name of playing and playing’s pleasures.
Following the acclaimed lead single ‘Star’, today’s single and album opener ‘Ember’ formally introduces For Love of Grace & the Hereafter. The track begins as a louche warmup, a sliding run-through of chords without particular direction follows, while a glockenspiel picks out a lead line. Suddenly, we’re off, barrelling down the street. The song is an extended hand with a raised eyebrow, inviting its subject to race through the city in love, catching breath in an alley and then going again. Vocalist Elias Rønnenfelt’s “I love you in an ominous way” is a direct moment of clarity, until the rose-tinted melody spills into controlled mayhem. The accompanying video was directed by the band and Ira Rønnenfelt.
Over 18 years and five studio albums, Iceage - Rønnenfelt, guitarist Johan Suurballe Wieth, drummer Dan Kjær Nielsen, guitarist Casper Morilla Fernandez, and bassist Jakob Tvilling Pless - have worked inside the idea of collapse. It is a way of playing, singing and songwriting, almost falling apart and pulling together at once - a tumbling through life in song, catching it as it goes.
For Love of Grace & the Hereafterwas recorded last year at Silence Studio, a modest house in rural Sweden near the Norwegian border. Twelve years ago, they recorded2014’s Plowing Into the Field of Love at the same studio; it’s no coincidence that it’s the only time they have returned to a studio to cut a record. The band wanted to capture the same intense energy. “The songs needed to be immediate, urgent, raw, and fast,” Rønnenfelt reveals. “We wanted to try to shed any unnecessary weight. Catching outlets of energy is what excites us the most.”
The band leaned on their experiences and the thousands of hours on stages they’ve shared since they were teenagers. The setup was as minimal as possible: making decisions live and not overthinking, patient full takes with minimal overdubs. The lyrics were written only a few weeks before entering the studio to prevent the overall picture from being too fragmented and to increase the sense of risk and urgency.
For Love of Grace & the Hereafter is bright and energetic. It’s both fun and as serious as ever, growing and glowing through love. Across six albums, Iceage have found salvation, notably through the throes of true love, both romantic and brotherly. Everything has been leading up to this moment for the band: a communal, cathartic collapse, and a full circle moment where contentment and chaos can live in clarity.
Pre-Order For Love of Grace & the Hereafter
Iceage Tour Dates
Fri. Aug. 14 - Copenhagen, DK @ Syd For Solen
Iceage
For Love of Grace & the Hereafter
Out May 29th on Mexican Summer
Pre-Order
1. Ember
2. Match Head Girl
3. The Weak
4. No Fear
5. Salve for Every Sore
6. mother-of-pearl
7. Tender Blades
8. 1835
9. Star
10. Lifetime
11. Holy Water
12. True Blue
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