Album of the Week: Fontaines D.C. – Romance
Ireland’s greatest musical export in recent times are back! Grian, Carlos, Deego, Curley and Tom certainly look different but do they sound different? ROMANCE is the band’s first record for new label XL Recordings having recorded three critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums for Partisan Records, the last being the brilliant Skinty Fia (2022) and the first album released since the band set up home in England. Skinty Fia presented a new sonic dimension for the band, with a new found ethereality alongside the harsher, distorted sounds of 90s alt-rock being integrated into their formative strains of post-punk.
New album ROMANCE arrives upon a wave of promotional material, photoshoots, music videos and social media teasers which have been rolled out since the arrival of lead single Starburster back in April earlier this year. There is a clear sense of ambition with this new record, the new look and its overall aesthetic, as the band reach out and grab at a flickering 2024 zeitgeist. One can’t help but think of transformation U2 undertook in the making of their landmark 1991 album Achtung Baby, an undeniable classic that astutely left behind the well-loved anthemic rock that defined them in favour of playful experimentalism within the pop-rock spectrum.
So is ROMANCE a comparable reinvention? Yes and No. In a lot of ways ROMANCE is an expected, if a little accelerated, progression from a band that have been comfortably pushing their sound in new directions for a number of years. ROMANCE builds upon the success of Skinty Fia and proves that singer and lyricist Grian Chatten’s solo album Chaos For The Fly was ultimately a positive sojourn for not only Chatten but the band as whole. ROMANCE is also the band’s fourth album in little over five years, so to expect any sort of major transformation is perhaps unrealistic. Saying that, the band prove here that they are in no way willing to simply stand still and reproduce what the people want.
On the opening title-track the group double down on the gloom that has peppered their recent albums, with a track that evolves at a deathly pace. Building upon a simple, spacious palette that evokes the pioneering goth rock sound of early 80s The Cure, the track becomes something much more amorphous, it gathers like slow rolling thunder to emerge with cinematic sweeps of gargantuan sound. It’s a pensive opener that is at once modest yet also presents the band as flashier and oversized than before, the hallmarks of producer James Ford (on board for the first time in place of Dan Carey) on full display.
Throughout ROMANCE, Ford’s production conjures a sound of greater scope, and the influx of fresh influences the band brings to the table are suitably amplified. Sometimes in exhilarating and exuberant style as evidenced by lead single Starburster, which with its booming hip hop inspired rhythm finds Chatten rapping in frantic, agitated fashion. Described by the singer as an aural depiction of a a panic attack, the track is complete with sharp intakes of breath and murky, bleak guitar motifs recalling some of the tropes late 90s/00s nu-metal. Thankfully that is about as nu-metal as the album gets despite the pre-album allusions to Korn. Here’s The Thing is another strong early album missive, reimagining the band’s passionate post-punk, by marrying the once contemporaneous sounds of 90s American alt-rock and Britpop.
Speaking of Britpop… for me, with his brooding, cocksure stage persona (not just the tambourine) and matter-of-fact yell, Chatten as a singer has always been a dead ringer for Liam Gallagher, albeit backed by a more open-minded group of musicians, and as we discover here, a greater vocal range. Chatten’s voice is explored and utilised greatly on ROMANCE, often employing a new found falsetto and gentle croon, off-setting his more familiar rampaging, ranting bark. Both Desire and In The Modern World find Chatten functioning in this manner. There is a new found vocal confidence (perhaps earned from his solo outing) on the latter, which with the sweet, cooing backing vocals of Conor Deegan III and elegant string arrangement is one their most lavish and filmic productions to date.
For the most part of ROMANCE, Chatten’s lyrics appear to employ a cut and paste or stream of consciousness approach, colouring the songs with imagistic turns of phrase, coded non sequiturs and metaphor. Chatten’s lyrics have often set Fontaines D.C. apart from the contemporary pack and have become increasingly ciphered with time. On ROMANCE they seem aided by the group’s exploration of new sonic terrain, freeing him up from previous preoccupations and the rousing, anthemic verses and choruses that tended to rise above their punk racket. Instead, Chatten’s words and vocals often function like a versatile instrument amidst the band’s refined art-rock sound.
With this in mind, it may be surprising to discover that two of the album’s best tracks are perhaps their most immediate and relatable. Horseness Is The Whatness (title referencing James Joyce’s Ulysses) is a melancholic song featuring lyrics written by Carlos O’Connell offering simpler, searching lines. Chatten’s tender delivery of his bandmate’s lyrics are accompanied by Tom Coll’s percussion gently echoing into the ether, wrapped up in the graceful swooning of strings and plaintive guitar. Favourite, which is the final track on the album, is also perhaps the most surprising of the lot. Not that it is divergently novel, but hearing the familiarity of its 80s indie-pop jangle (The Smiths, Felt, R.E.M.) after half-an-hour of something quite different is a revelation, and it’s passionate, singalong nature marks it as a shining gem in their catalogue.
Fontaines D.C. – ROMANCE is out now and available on Indies Exclusive pink vinyl, clear vinyl, black vinyl, CD and cassette tape.
