OUTSIDELEFTmusic
ICEAGE
The Holding Hand
(Mexican Summer)
Danish post punk badseeds ICEAGE have joined Mexican Summer records and have readied their first single for release by the label, The Holding Hand. It’s a moody piece to say the least and worthy of extra credit I’d say, for the wind chimes...
The video for The Holding Hand is on Youtube and the atmospherics abound. There’s the Scandi-adjacent dark magnificence that we’ve come to expect. Video director Anders Malmberg says his aim was to create a cinematic experience to match the musical atmosphere that lets the authenticity the band radiates to be ever present. He’s pretty much done that. Malmberg keeps moodily lit mesmerising singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt tightly focused under his camera’s watchful gaze.
“The song lives in a slurred world,” Elias says of The Holding Hand, a world the video matches quite dandily.
The core of the Iceage - Jakob Tvilling Pless, Johan Surrballe Wieth, Dan Kjær Nielsen and Elias has been fortified this time out with addition of guitarist Casper Morilla Fernadez.
Not too long ago, when there was still a night time economy, I was lucky enough to be invited along by the artist Dame Hay to see ICEAGE play at Birmingham’s Hare and Hounds. The room, packed to the rafters, suited them perfectly. The intensity of the ICEAGE performance that night was inferno-esque. Burning down everything before them.
While the pandemic is a scorched earth entity for live performances and performers, it’s good to see bands and musicians regroup and use the time to expand creatively. Making the best of it. In the ten years since their first LP name, Iceage have rocked their way around the world, a quintessential live band and now, hidden depths.
Main photo: Mishael Phillip
