ICEAGE For the Love of Grace & the Hereafter (Mexican Summer) — For their first album in five years, the Danish band Iceage looked back even further. For the Love of Grace & the Hereafter was recorded in the same studio where the group forged their 2011 debut, New Brigade. If Iceage were feeling nostalgic, that didn’t prompt them to linger over the experience; the new album was largely recorded over the course of a single week. The expediency doesn’t mean the material feels dashed off. The tracks here are full and fierce. Proof might be in how often Iceage calls to mind predecessors who were known for significant studio power. For example, “Ember” finally brings us a modern band willing to channel the reckless headlong thrust of Screaming Blue Messiahs. The general mode is slicked-up post-punk. Comparisons to the Strokes are tempting throughout, with “Lifetime” standing as the deadest ringer. “The Weak” is like a hoedown held inside of a turbine turned up to full speed, and “Salve for Every Soul” is notable for the way the words come spilling out like tumbling Lincoln Logs. Iceage just plain sound like they’re having fun on the album. When “1835” adopts some the raggedy, exploratory energy of Paul Westerberg later in his solo career, it comes across as Iceage enjoying the freedom they’ve earned. Adore the following cuts: “Match Head Girl,” “mother-of-pearl,” “Star,” and “Holy Water.”

FRANCIS OF DELIRIUM Run, Run Pure Beauty (Dalliance) — Jana Bahrich, the indie-rock pride and joy of Luxembourg, guides Francis of Delirium through their sophomore album with a commitment to dualities. In her songwriting, sorrow and elation loop arms and skip forward together. Run, Run Pure Beauty plays that out in the lyrics, for sure. The contradictions are nicely present in the music, too. “Out Tonight” swirls together sweet pop with thumping alternative and makes the chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter mix seem exactly right. The main appeal of Francis of Delirium’s music is simpler than parsing the divergent tones. Bahrich simply knows how to bend a hook to her will. “Little Black Dress” is tight and absurdly catchy, and “Higher” suggests Christine McVie at her most elegantly inspired. The production smartly accentuates the songs, especially when a little more ravishment is called for, as with the chiming, epic ballad “Requiem for a Dying Day.” Maybe duality isn’t the right way to think about the album. Maybe totality is what Bahrich has achieved. Make a dash to these tracks: “Damned,” “Sucker Punch,” and “It’s a Beautiful Life.”