On ’s panic-attack-inspired 2024 single “Starburster,” frontman Grian Chatten searches desperately for unfiltered certainty. “I wanna take the truth without a lens on it/My god-given insanity depends on it,” he sings, buried amid crunchy boom-bap beats and wheezing Mellotron. The song’s cryptic —and its ominous parade of gimp masks, albuterol hits, and reconstructive surgery—only underscores the sense that the Irish group, once famous for its studied cool, might be going off the rails.
Where Fontaines D.C.’s 2022 album bid a tenebrous farewell to the band’s Dublin origins, on they embrace their transformation into globe-trotting rock stars.
Having evolved from the pints, poetry, and working-class grit of their roots, they’ve traded longtime collaborator Dan Carey ( , ) for producer , known for his work with arena-scale bands like , , and ; they’ve replaced the raw post-punk of and with a Frankenstein assemblage of Britpop, gothic Americana, and ’90s alt rock. (They’ve updated their outfits, too, with new looks that suggest styling the .) Are they having an identity crisis, or playing with their newfound fame? Excitingly, it’s a bit of both.
maintains the darkness integral to Fontaines D.C.’s music while showcasing a frisky unpredictability.
opens with a feeling of limitless possibility framed against a backdrop of impending doom. The ominous title track feels like a death march: Its piano melody teeters between innocence and occult, accompanied.