New surroundings bring new perspectives, so in the past few years the Dublin-bred but no longer Dublin-based Fontaines DC have shifted their gaze from their initial inspirations – the idealism of literature and poetry, the stark reality of certain parts of Dublin and Ireland, fitful ignorance of societal progression – to their experiences since they released their second album, the Grammy-nominated A Hero’s Death, in 2020.
That sense of optimism and passion, according to Conor Deegan, their guitarist, has always been present. “Each album gets further away from observing that through the lens of Ireland” – directly on their Mercury Prize-nominated 2019 debut, Dogrel; detached on A Hero’s Death; and dislocated on Skinty Fia, their 2022 release. Their new album, Deegan adds, is a search for “what else there is to be romantic about”.
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It so happens there’s quite a lot. The foundations of Romance are noticeable in the way Fontaines DC sonically comport themselves. Once-defining characteristics – provocative, raw, naive punk, guttural rumbles and full-throttle repetitive phrasing that an irritable generation can sing along to – are barely heard. These features haven’t been replaced so much as delicately traced and then written over with the confidence and assurance that come from being so comfortable in your skin that the changes are more systemic than stylistic.
The outcome is incredibly compelling, with a sequence of songs that effortlessly join the band’s best work, as well as having a commercial appeal that, whether or not they like it, will surely take them to the next level: in the lead-up to the release of Romance, Fontaines DC announced a 2025 headline show at the 40,000-plus-capacity Finsbury Park, in London. Factor in two shows at 3Arena in Dublin in December and you have a trajectory that isn’t slowing down.
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It will further help ticket sales that many of the songs on Romance are stuffed with arena-sized indie-rock melodies. The title track is a slow-burn Cure-like delight; Starburster is a bouncing ball of words and rhythms interspersed with strings, piano and Blur-adjacent vocals; Desire is like Pink Floyd filtered through Depeche Mode; In the Modern World is the band channelling Lana Del Ray, with the very best of “take that body downtown” impressions; Sundowner is psychedelic shoegaze in excelsis. Best of all is the final track, Favourite, which is rammed with irresistible jangly guitars and, perhaps, is a sign of what to expect on album number five.
It’s all quite a remove from Boys in the Better Land, Liberty Belle, Too Real and Big, but Fontaines DC rightly ask what the point is if you have to ask permission to evolve.
