Four years is a long time to sit with a record. But if any band has earned the right to take their time, it’s Iceage. The Danish five-piece — vocalist Elias Rønnenfelt, guitarists Johan Suurballe Wieth and Casper Morilla Fernandez, drummer Dan Kjær Nielsen, and bassist Jakob Tvilling Pless — have just resurfaced with Star, their first new music since the 2021 fan and critical favourite ‘Seek Shelter’. And yeah, it was worth the wait.
Out now via Mexican Summer, Star arrives with a video directed by Thinh T. Petrus Nguyen, and the whole thing feels like a band rediscovering what makes them tick — only louder, warmer, and more alive than ever.
A Love Song from the Edge
Here’s the thing about Iceage: over 18 years and five studio albums, they’ve built their entire identity around the idea of collapse. Not despair, exactly — more like that dizzying feeling of nearly falling apart and pulling yourself together at the exact same moment. It’s a tightrope walk through the chaos of being human, and nobody does it quite like them.
Star leans hard into that tension, but this time the fuel is pure love. We’re not talking soft-focus romance though. This is love as a natural disaster — the kind that wakes you up, rearranges the furniture of your whole world, and leaves you feeling like you’re burning out in the best possible way. Rønnenfelt still writes from the grit up, but on Star there’s an electricity to it, an animation. Something has been switched on.
Musically, the track is a rush: a restless sixteenth-note jangle pulse, twinkling guitar weaving against slashier, more aggressive tones, and a sense of everything building toward something enormous. Then — out of nowhere — handclaps. Enthusiastic, almost delirious handclaps. It’s the kind of detail that makes you grin without knowing why.
Dying Stars and the Biggest High
The central metaphor here is genuinely beautiful. What does love make you feel like? According to Iceage: a dying star. And not in a sad way. A star’s death is the biggest event in the universe — catastrophic, incandescent, total. To feel that level of collapse while being completely present, completely alive in it? That’s the whole tape. That’s the song.
It’s Iceage doing what only Iceage can: turning the apocalyptic into the euphoric.
The Praise Keeps Coming
The band’s been racking up serious critical credibility for years now. Stereogum called their evolution “the most ambitious and accessible” with each release. Pitchfork described their progression as rebuilding raw foundations into “a loftier, more refined temple.” And Dork simply crowned them “one of the most boundary-pushing bands in punk.” High bars, all cleared.
Catch Them Live
If you’re in Copenhagen, Iceage have a date at Syd For Solen on August 14th. Keep an eye on their socials for more tour news — because after a single this good, you know there’s more coming.
Watch the video for Star above, follow Iceage on Instagram and dig deeper into their world over at Mexican Summer. Welcome back, lads. We missed you.
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