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Saturday 20 December 2014

ICEAGE : Plowing Into The Field Of Love



“Paddling through still dark waters
And the moon illuminates a thin white line
Bootlickers stand aside
I am plowing into the field of love


They will place me in a hearse”


Such are the lyrics of the title track of Iceage’s third record and outstanding new effort, a profound, tormented, sexually charged, morbidly romantic open letter.
Frontman and lyricist Elias Bender Ronnenfelt has penned the most eloquent album of the year, a belting self-portrait written with complete abandon, on the edge of inferno and seemingly under the influence.
A coming of age process, Plowing Into The Field of Love consists of dark ballads filled with a rich sonic palette. Haunted pianos, violins, trumpets and mandolins spice up ominous misanthropic anthems whose lyrics are scrumptiously relevant.
Excellent lyricists are few and far between nowadays,  so let’s appreciate Ronnenfelt’s wit and boldness, impressive skills coming from a twenty-one year old man.
A grim declaration against humanity, the Danish band reminds of early Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, especially From Her To Eternity. Their aura is equally pitch black, profane and blasphemous. Articulate and expressive Ronnenfelt is as majestic scenically as young Nick Cave with that possessed singing that seems expelled from their lungs. Both bands are quite an experience live, with  moody outbursts and intoxicating spells.
When Elias slurs : “I’ve got nations blaming me  for the passings of their children”, Birthday Party fans can reminisce of “Deep In The Woods” and its brazen cynicism. (“I took her from rags right through to stitches. Baby tonight we sleep in different ditches”).
Formerly rawer, Iceage has turned into elegant yet disheveled postpunk, where sexual tension and gothic romanticism prevail, the sort of  capstone record that reinvents glamour, captivates the listener physically and mentally and leaves a lasting impression, like books written by cursed poets.


“In your simplicity you prayed on your knees
To the one who in his heaven laughed at the sound of the nails
That ignoble executioners drove into your living flesh.”
(Baudelaire)

Plowing Into The Field of Love was released on October, 6th 2014.

 

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