Fontaines D.C. new album Romance Photo: Supplied
Fontaines D.C. are an Irish five piece who write poetic post punk that shifts your world view.
It's surprising the band has any time to write. Following a relentless global touring schedule and a stint opening for the Arctic Monkeys arena shows across North America the band only allotted four weeks to write and record their new album in a studio in London.
The songs were finished in a french chateau with the notable English producer James Ford who has worked with Blur, Depeche Mode and Jessie Ware.
Fontaines D.C’s fourth album Romance is 11 tracks bursting with originality, an even balance of familiar guitars and sonic surprises. It's notably less Irish than their previous albums exploring themes of love, identity, cataclysmic ends and the isolation of urban life.
The title track plunges you into a world synth followed by a moody bass line that leads you into the darkness again.
Fontaines D.C. has created a fresh, vibrant world to elevate their new music. The band has intentionally started dressing in a coordinated style, sporting dramatic mullets and occasionally pigtails. Their look now features a confused mix of textures and vibrant colours, including faded jeans, hot pink, leopard print, fluorescent green, and even tie-dye. A shift from their previous grunge-inspired aesthetic.
Starburster opens with the distinctive sounds of the mellotron. A sign of more pop edges to come. However the instrumentation is angsty, the rhythm section building into a trip hop backdrop, emulating a panic attack Grian Chatten experienced on the tube in London. His intense gasps for air create a vocal trick so intense it’s immersive.
Here’s the thing is a restless song with a climbing melody, which suggests a promise of loyalty to wait for a disconcerted lover.
In the modern world feels like a suit of armour for those pandering in the apocalypse cushioned by the comfort of love and numbness. Floating on a chorus of strings. Bass player Connor Deagen’s backing vocals are a welcomed harmonic addition accompanying the distinctive sound of Grian Chatten’s haunting Irish grit.
The melancholic song Motorcycle boy was recorded inside a church in London ruminating on failed promises.
The band have often sighted a broad pallet of inspirations from their music from Irish folklore in Skinty Fia to Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s anime Akira and philosophical ideology in Romance.
The track Horseness is the Whatness borrows its title from James Joyce’s Ulysses.
In an interview with Rolling Stone Grian Chatten said, “We say things on this record we’ve wanted to say for a long time. And while he feels like his search is never over he admits “ it’s nice to feel lighter.”
Favourite is a triumphant finish to the album, featuring richly layered shoegaze guitar full of indie nostalgia. Rounding out an experimental record that fans of Fontaines D.C. are sure to appreciate.
