Swedish electropop duo Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, AKA Icona Pop, burst on to global dancefloors with their 2012 single I Love It. Exemplifying the shimmering maximalism of hyperpop, the anthemic track and their ensuing album This Is… Icona Pop launched the group as the perfect party-starters and earned them years of opening slots for pop juggernauts like Katy Perry and One Direction.
A decade on from that debut, their second international album, Club Romantech, finds the duo producing a mature sound that is darker and more propulsive. Earworming melodies are ever-present, from the scattered, melismatic syllables of piano house opener Fall in Love to the Charli XCX-style group chants of I Want You, but the rhythmic backings are far harder and faster. Standout track Shit We Do for Love soars into synth-based Eurotrance, while Stick Your Tongue Out references Benny Benassi’s early 00s electro-house; Desire, featuring Joel Corry, channels a big-room sound with its reverb-laden percussion.
At 15 tracks, Club Romantech can feel relentless in its rhythmic energy. Yet if you surrender to the sound, it’s hard not to find the album infectiously danceable. It is a brave new world for Icona Pop, one that finds them closer to Ibiza than Katy Perry.
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