When the pandemic first started, we knew there’d be a whole lot of quarantine-themed music at some point in the near future. DIY projects people put together at home, albums dealing with isolation, and maybe even some more jocular attempts to make sense of this strange experience. Soon enough, we started to hear music made in lockdown and about whatever was going through people’s heads amidst it — anything from coronavirus raps to Charli XCX’s How I’m Feeling Now, one of the best albums of the year so far. And now, Chromeo have dropped a whole EP that’s very explicitly about the COVID-19 era.
Chromeo’s EP has the very on-brand title of Quarantine Casanova. It’s the follow-up to their 2018 album Head Over Heels, and it was written and recorded under lockdown. Aside from being timely, and from the fact that Chromeo’s music is well-suited for the beginning of summer, they’re releasing it now with a specific purpose. All proceeds from digital and physical sales of the EP and merch will be donated to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp COVID-19 Relief Fund, a decision made “in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and in recognition of COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Black and POC communities.”
Otherwise, Quarantine Casanova is a tongue-in-cheek affair. “Honestly, it started as a joke,” Dave 1 said in a statement. They freestyled one of the EP’s songs early in quarantine, and fans liked it, so they kept going. “As usual, it’s a high brow-low brow thing with us,” P-Thugg added. “These are obviously the funniest tracks we’ve ever written, but they connected in such a visceral way.”
Quarantine Casanova has five songs of the band’s customary robo-funk, and much of its thematic content is certainly immediately recognizable — running out of paper towels, yelling at people for not wearing masks, etc. That initial improvised song, “Clorox Wipe,” has Dave 1 doing a typical joke-y Chromeo come-on but singing “I’ll be your Clorox wipe” and “I’m not trying to be your man/ I’m just your disinfectant.” Other song titles include “6 Feet Away,” “Stay In Bed (And Do Nothing),” “‘Roni Got Me Stressed Out,” and “Cabin Fever.” Check it out below.
The Quarantine Casanova EP is out now. Stream it here and order a physical copy here.
