Iceage have made a great Britpop album with “Seek Shelter.” It feels weary, paranoid, decadent, and preoccupied. “Seek Shelter” has the vibe especially of a late-era Britpop album, in the same lineage as Blur’s “13,” Verve’s “Urban Hymns,” or even some of the tracks on Radiohead’s “The Bends.” It feels a lot like “13” specifically—that album had such a mix of styles and attitudes throughout, gesturing to older Blur songs and incorporating a lot of new ideas and sounds. It’s incredible to think of Iceage’s trajectory from the furious music of “New Brigade” to the sorta-country songs on “Plowing Into the Field of Love” to the breadth of musical ideas on “Seek Shelter.”
It’s always impressive to hear an album for the first time that sounds like the band could go anywhere from track to track and pull it off. That’s what “Seek Shelter” is like. The confidence and control that the band shows on these songs is so thrilling. Elias Bender Rønnenfelt bends his voice and delivery to fit the songs and shape their atmosphere: he’s sneering from the stage in “Vendetta,” crooning on “Drink Rain,” and calling with his last breath on “The Holding Hand.” It’s a big, entertaining album full of ambitious songs. One of my favorites of the year so far.