At the beginning of the month, Iceage returned with a new song called “The Holding Hand.” It was the first glimpse of a new album on the horizon, the followup to their great 2018 collection Beyondless. (“The Holding Hand” was a promising first glimpse too, ranking amongst our favorite songs that week.) Today they’re back with official news: Iceage’s fifth album is called Seek Shelter, and it’ll be out in May.

For the first time, Iceage enlisted an outside producer, and they chose none other than Sonic Boom, AKA Pete Kember, the former Spacemen 3 member who’s become a go-to collaborator for bands expanding their sound with lush, expansive synths. The group gathered in Lisbon, near Sonic Boom’s home in Sintra, and recorded the album in 12 days. “When we started, I think we were just lashing out, completely blindfolded with no idea as to why and how we were doing anything,” Elias Bender Rønnenfelt said in a statement. “For Seek Shelter, we had a definite vision of how we wanted the album to be carved out, yet still the end result came as a surprise in terms of where we sonically were able to push our boundaries.”

Along with the announcement, Iceage have shared a new single called “Vendetta.” “​Crime is the undercurrent that runs through everything,” Bender Rønnenfelt said of the song. “If you don’t see it, you’re not looking. In its invincible politics, it is the glue that binds it all together. ‘Vendetta’ is an impartial dance along the illicit lines of infraction​.”

Musically, “Vendetta” seems to be hinting at something pretty different for Iceage. It’s some of the grooviest, spaciest music this band has ever made, and it suggests we might be in for a pretty surprising new version of their sound. Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Shelter Song”
02 “High & Hurt”
03 “Love Kills Slowly”
04 “Vendetta”
05 “Drink Rain”
06 “Gold City”
07 “Dear Saint Cecilia”
08 “The Wider Powder Blue”
09 “The Holding Hand”

Seek Shelter is out 5/7 via Mexican Summer. Pre-order it here.