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Jun 23, 2023 By Kat Ramkumar

Swedish electro-pop duo, Icona Pop, have announced the release of their second studio album CLUB ROMANTECH and shared its latest single, “Where Do We Go From Here.” This LP, which was in the works for 10 years, is due out September 1 via Ultra/Iconic/TEN. The pair also have performances at New York Pride lined up. Listen to the song below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the upcoming tour dates.

At the cusp of the pandemic, Icona Pop had to sell their LA home and move back to Stockholm to quarantine. Soon after, they found themselves back “in the studio where it all started.”

Of their songwriting process, Icona Pop’s Aino Jawo says in a press release: “We got back to what we love. It was the quietest period we’ve experienced in 10-plus years, so it’s crazy we made such danceable music. We felt the need to do something more up-tempo.”

“During these long conversations, we were dreaming of what we wanted the album to sound like,” recalls bandmate Caroline Hjelt. “We finally had the time to explore, have fun, and try different things. It feels like we’re going back to our core, but from where we are today. Initially, we were devastated to leave LA and the whole system we had built there. Suddenly, we were in Sweden, and we felt alone. In retrospect, I’m very happy we were there, but there was a lot of crying at first. What kept us going during the pandemic was going into the studio.”

Jawo had this to say about the new single: “‘Where Do We Go From Here’ was one of the first songs we wrote in the fall of 2020 after realizing we couldn’t move back to LA because of the pandemic. Back in Stockholm, we formed a small crew to start making music and thought, ‘What the fuck are we going to do now?’ Eclectic, fun, hard, pop, deep, mainstream, catchy, weird, late at night, early in the morning—always with a tear in the corner of the eye and a smile on our face. That’s how ‘Where Do We Go From Here’ feels and that’s how CLUB ROMANTECH feels too.”

Several of the album’s tracks from already been released as singles, including “I Want You” where Icona Pop teamed up with the GRAMMY-nominated Galantis.

“As Icona Pop, we can release a pop tune or a super hard dance song, and that’s who we are. When we started to write this album, we didn’t have any rules. We just had a vision we wanted to share with our fans. We’re inviting them into our world,” says Hjelt.

Check out our podcast episode with Icona Pop on crafting an album during a pandemic.

CLUB ROMANTECH Tracklist:

1. In Love
2. Desire
3. Shit We Do For Love (with Yaeger)
4. Stick Your Tongue Out
5. Make Your Mind Up Babe
6. Stockholm At Night
7. Where Do We Go From Here?
8. I Want You (with Galantis)
9. Loving You Ain’t Easy
10. Need You
11. Off Of My Mind (with VIZE)
12. Faster
13. You’re Free (with Ultra Naté)
14. Feels In My Body
15. Spa (with SOFI TUKKER)

Icona Pop Tour Dates:

06/24 – Planet Pride @ Brooklyn Mirage – Brooklyn, NY
06/25 – Dreamland @ Musica – New York, NY

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