Iceage, Seek Shelter

The evolution of Danish band Iceage has been very cool to watch over the past ten years. But I will say that I was unprepared for their fifth album, Seek Shelter. Wow. What an album! So this is what happens when a band perfectly blends where they have been and what they have done with new ideas and influences, from the Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones to The Verve and Primal Scream, into one grand cohesive collection of songs.

Lead singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt explained in an interview that the music that came before served as a kind of 'jumping board', leaping them from where they had been sonically to where they were when they were working on Seeks Shelter. But he said, it was important for the band that their new place didn't seem too familiar, that it actually felt like what they were doing was true to the life and experiences that surrounded them at the time. Most importantly for Rønnenfelt, when working on new music, he always wants to remain very vigilant when it comes to self-awareness. He said that he doesn't like it at all. "I don't want to be too smart or knowledgeable around what I'm doing. But if you can get to a space where you feel like you're just guided by your gut feeling or certain intuition, that's usually a sign that you're on some kind of right track."

That 'gut' has served Rønnenfelt and the band very well. Seek Shelter is Iceage's most adventurous, innovative, creative, and satisfying album to date and one of the best that I have heard this year.

Picks Of The Week

The Raytons and The Lathums are two exciting up and coming British bands that have been on my radar for a while. Both have released a few singles and Ep's over the past few years. Neither one has released a proper album. This past month both released new Ep's. Both are outstanding. My only gripe with both bands is that they keep teasing us with a few new songs here and there, but nothing more. With this said....it is a small gripe. I will take what I can get.

The Raytons, May Seriously Harm You and Others

The Lathums, The Lathums

Dodie, Building A Problem

With 1.94 million followers and 341million views on her Youtube channel, English singer/songwriter Dodie has build quite a following over the past decade. While she has released a number of EP's and plenty of music over the same period of time, she had never released a proper studio album. Now, after a decade, she has. 

Dodie's music has always served as a kind of window into her head. She has also been quite vocal otherwise with her thoughts, feelings, and personal life struggles, including depression. On Building A Problem, Dodie continues to share it all, but in a new and more intimate way. It's as though she left her diary open on the table for all to read and then crafted music and arrangements that are inviting and sparse to draw you in closer, but never get in the way of her words. She wants you to know it all. In this regard, it is the album's 'voyeuristic undertones' (LTBF's) that separates Building A Problem from her past works. 

I will admit that I found myself drawn into Building A Problem and then unable step away until after I had a few listens. It's a wonderfully crafted album and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Vintage Caravan, Monuments

Formed when they were just twelve years old, the Icelandic trio The Vintage Caravan's songs and sound had always stayed close to the 'hard hitting riff fueled' music of the bands they loved and idolized; Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Mastodon, Rush, and Cream. But, as lead singer and guitarist Óskar Logi Ágústsson recently said in an interview, they never set out to be a band that sounded like it was frozen in 1971 and then put in the microwave all these years later.

In February of 2020, after extensive touring that brought new attention and fans to the band, they entered the studio to record their fifth album Monuments. Twenty-two days later, after more or less living at the studio, the band walked out feeling that they had really found and stamped their own sound for the first time. And what a sound.

Monuments is a hard hitting, hard rocking, superb album with all the right riffs, hooks, and surprises to keep even the most ardent rock fan totally engrossed in it. For me, it's one of the best albums by a rock trio that I have heard in a long time.

Cory Hanson, Pale Horse Rider

I love an album that has a strong musical viewpoint and sets a tone right up front for what to expect next...and then delivers on it. Cory Hanson, the lead singer and guitarist for the band Wand, has done just that with his second solo album, Pale Horse Rider, creating a moody, psych-folk, Southwest desert atmosphere and vibe that set the tone for this excellent collection of songs.

Recorded in the high desert region of the Mojave desert, away from a studio, and surrounded by psychotropic cacti, Hanson sought to take a simpler approach to the instrumentals on his second solo record and have the album be more lyrically focused. While simpler, Hanson has created a specific atmosphere that he describes as being the force of gravity holding down and together the songs and album which take a dark look at the myths and truths of cities that Hanson knows so well, such as LA and Las Vegas and the people who inhabit them. They are somber and forbidding looks and views, but somehow also sanguine. It all makes Pale Horse Rider an alluring album.

The Snuts, W.L.

Scottish band The Snuts', W.L., was one of the most anticipated debut releases for me this year. And I'm happy to say that it lived up to my expectations. Apparently it did for many others as well...at least in the UK where it entered the charts at number one, making it the first time since 2007 that a Scottish band's debut album did so. 

What I appreciate about this self-described 'guitar-driven' band is that they had the confidence to actually not stick to a single guitar-driven sound or lane. In an interview, lead singer Jack Cochrane said that the band did not want to put themselves in a box. "If you record the same song over and over again, then people will just expect that from you. It was something that we were always cautious of while making this album.....we want our sound to take you different places: instead of causing you to throw pints, we want to connect on a deeper level. This album says that there is a place for guitar music in 2021, and it's nice to be able to say that we're not sticking to that classic UK indie sound."

With 17 songs clocking in at 59 minutes, there is a lot of music to explore here. Just don't set any expectations for what you hear next. Just sit back and enjoy it all.