“I learned how tough songwriting truly is on the first album,” John Summit tells Apple Music. “On the second one, I like to think I’ve perfected it more and more and understand the process a lot better.” John Summit’s second album arriving on Tax Day (15 April) 2026 in the US is no coincidence. The title nods to a keyboard shortcut from his pre-DJ-superstar days as an accountant. Feeling unfulfilled, he followed those long days with nights in the club, seeking escape from the other side of the DJ booth before becoming the one providing it. CTRL ESCAPE explores that tension between the fluorescent-lit monotony of his former career and the strobe-lit release of the dance floor. The opening track “STATUS:AWAY” narrates the feeling where, in office life, “Every day feels like a simulation… The clock doesn’t move/It just repeats.” “SHADOWS” extends an invitation into the unknown (“What if this world was never what it seemed?/Open your mind and find your space to breathe”), and “LIGHTS GO OUT” answers the question of what happens when desk dwellers finally log off through towering tech house and explosive drops made for dark warehouses. Even club kings like Summit (who marathoned a 21-hour DJ set shortly before the album’s release) need a break from the dance floor. He tells Apple Music that he took three months off from touring to work on the project: “It was so nice because I could just write about everything and not think about live shows too much, and experiment more.” (He has also taken to social media to assure fans, “No AI was used on my album and I’m really proud about that fact.") That buffer led to working with The Chainsmokers on the house-drum ’n’ bass hybrid “ALL THE TIME”, coating trance with what he calls “emo-indie rock edge” on “WITH ME” featuring Julia Wolf, and recruiting reggaetón artist Feid for “CHICA 305”, Latin tech house smouldering with horns and Spanish guitars. “I always wanted to write a Spanish-language record with a true Latin artist,” he says. Summit delivers more club heat on the hypnotic “SATA” and the alluring “MESS W/ ME”, their deep basslines aimed straight for the lizard brain, focused only on movement. Meanwhile, “SHADES OF BLUE” pairs full-hearted lyrics with soaring, melodic production, an anthemic successor to his hits “Where You Are” and “Shiver”. And on “DON’T BELIEVE IT”, he finds his sweet spot in sun-drenched piano house that’s as endearing as it is groovy, its lyrics revelling in the freedom of leaving things to fate: “I don’t even know where to go/That’s how I like it.”