Danish rock ‘n’ rollers Iceage released their previous album Seek Shelter in 2021. It marked the tenth anniversary of the band. They follow up with Shake The Feeling: Outtakes & Rarities 2015-2021, all 15 tracks are taken from the seven years during which Iceage made Plowing Into the Field of Love (2014), Beyondless (2018), and Seek Shelter (2021). It’s an impressive body of work bearing in mind these are, for one reason or another, tracks that did not make it onto these albums. That’s not to say they are inferior, far from it. They either did not ‘fit’ the tone of the album being worked on at the time or were felt not to be a reflection of the music they wanted to put out at the time. Interestingly the 4-piece of Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, Johan Suurballe Wieth, Jakob Tvilling Pless and Dan Kjær Nielsen decided rather than have the tracks in chronological order, they are presented in the order that makes most sense to them.
The album begins with the pulsating ‘All The Junk On The Outskirts‘ a track Iceage built around a drum machine, a process that Elias calls a “daunting breach of formula.”
The title track ‘Shake the Feeling‘ raises the tempo with its boisterous guitars, and lyrics sung with a slight psyche vibe. There is a grainy element to this track, earthy and honest.
It’s difficult to imagine that tracks such as ‘Sociopath Boogie‘, ‘Broken Hours’ and the astonishing instrumental ‘Namouche‘ didn’t have a home on the albums being worked on at the time, such is the quality of the tracks, full of wild abandon and originality. Ironically it’s the covers of two 1960s songs that don’t work quite so well: ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine‘ by Bob Dylan and Abner Jay’s ‘My Mule‘. Neither appear to add to this body of work, and if anything, only emphasize the joy of Iceage’s own original material. Take the raucous ‘I’m Ready To Make a Baby’, recorded but never included on an album due to the song’s initial impulse to (according to Elias) be “so dumb I have to act on it,” but “we couldn’t in our right mind put it on an album.” Fascinating to learn just how bands perceive their own songs, and how that perception can change over time.
The album finishes with ‘Lockdown Blues‘ and ‘Shelter Song‘. The former was released at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Iceage state that it was “written one night, rehearsed on the second, and recorded on the third,” and at a time when the band was unsure when they’d see each other again. Hence it was absolutely of its time, but a time that was torrid and challenging and as such unsurprising that it did not find a home on an album. Final track ‘Shelter Song‘ is a stripped-down acoustic rendition of the track that opened Seek Shelter. Elias says of the track:
“Johan is playing some pretty flute on it. I didn’t know he could play the flute. He’s a surprising motherfucker, that Johan.”
Shake the Feeling is a collection of misfit toys, as described by Elias. However it does demonstrate the talent of this band that in their short existence they can put together such a collection of outtakes. Thoroughly enjoyable for both fans and as an introduction for those who are not already aware of Iceage.
Shake The Feeling: Outtakes & Rarities 2015-2021 is released on 23 September via Mexican Summer.
For more information on Iceage please check out their facebook and bandcamp.
