On Feb. 7, 2025, pioneering avant-garde English musician Dean Blunt and Danish vocalist Elias Rønnenfelt of post-punk band Iceage have returned to the studio together with the short but sweet “lucre.” The pair had previously collaborated on the 2023 single “Smile Please” and the track “repeat offenders” on 2024’s “Backstage Raver.”
The grainy picture of yellow flowers used as the cover art are welcoming — if a little haunting — and could be symbols of prosperity like the word “lucre” suggests.
The opening song of the numerically titled track-list, “1,” starts with Rønnenfelt singing the syllable “Da” repeatedly before the instrumentation picks up. The song itself is alright, having consistent vocals from Rønnenfelt and a solemn instrumental courtesy of Blunt that sounds like his style, but this is just warming up for the rest of the album.
“2” sounds like a pre-existing song by Blunt or maybe even the Blunt-affiliated hypnagogic pop band Nina. It sounds like his style from the guitar to the drums. Rønnenfelt makes a sound like an owl in the middle of the song. “Looking for anything,” he later sings. Longing is a universal struggle that can be easily relatable, though it will mean different things to different people. Who knows what exactly Rønnenfelt is looking for?
“3” has a breathtakingly beautiful guitar and drum loop. The muffled mixing of the guitar during the verses of the first half of the song was a great addition. However, the second half of the song has a jarring beat-switch that wasn’t worth it because the first half was heavenly.
“4” has an absolutely gorgeous lead guitar with upbeat drums. It doesn’t sound like Blunt’s usual style at all. This switch-up of sonics is exciting to say the least for the future implications of what Blunt’s instrumentation will sound like in the future. There are some striking lyrics such as “Staring down the barrel, trying to make it look sweet for you” and “Staring at the wheel trying to find a destination like you.” The former shows the sacrifices people would make to have someone they care about be happy, putting themselves in danger for their sake.
“5” has another great drum loop. The guitar is consistently solid as always. There are many interesting lyrics by Rønnenfelt, including: “I just want to preach the truth in everything,” “Pray the rain comes for us to kiss goodnight” and “Don’t you call it quits.” The optimism is comforting.
“6” has an upbeat guitar that sounds a long way away from Blunt’s old, somber style. “You might be excited by daylight and bracelets in gold” sounds like a friend trying to get someone else who has tendencies to self-isolate to go outside and embrace the outdoors.
“7” has another great drum loop. The tambourine was a nice addition, while a violin and electric guitar solo add a lot of emotion into the song. Although Rønnenfelt is just singing “Yeah” for the chorus of the song, his voice sounds beautiful and suits the instrumentation snugly.
“Give the lightbulb a couple of screws” is a cryptic but interesting lyric.
“lucre” is quite a flourishing proof of concept. Blunt’s instrumentation is polished and extremely satisfying to listen to. Although the album doesn’t have Blunt’s classic monotone vocals, Rønnenfelt’s personal lyrics only enhance the sounds, sounding like a singer in between goth rock band The Cure’s Robert Smith and rock band The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas.
It would have been nice if the songs had actual titles on them instead of numbers, but this is still incredibly well-curated and one of Blunt’s best collaborations with other artists. Hopefully this won’t be the end of Blunt’s and Rønnenfelt’s collaborations, because this is something special.
Rating: 4/5