If the crying heart artwork adorning 's fourth album wasn't a clear enough indication that was never going to be a record of sweet, pure and unabashed love songs, then the opening minute of its title track serves as a brutal, chilling wake-up. Opening with a creepy descending mellotron riff, crashing stabs of distorted synths, and sinister bone-rattle percussion, it finds vocalist Grian Chatten quietly crooning " " before proceeding to get darker still. " , t " its second verse lyric runs, adding " .
" Love you too babe. It's no wonder that conventional ideas about love and romance are blurred, twisted and contorted here, for this is also an album about transformation, and growth, and about negotiating challenges as once-safe-and-secure ground shifts constantly beneath one's feet. The Dublin quintet have also been a creatively restless band, but where their superb debut album was imbued with the spirit of Shane MacGowan and early '80s post-punk, their first album for XL Recordings (also home to trail-blazing artists such as Burial, , M.
I.A., and Casisdead) is a startling bold reinvention, drawing inspiration from dark-wave electronica, experimental hip-hop, '90s alt.
rock, and - who saw this coming five years ago? - the menace and melancholia of Korn and Deftones, two bands that guitarist Carlos O’Connell in recent years. The influence of those nu-metal daddies is perhaps most detectable in two of the three singles already released to preview : the panic attack-inspired and the driving , with it's David Silveria-esque cymbal-work, biting riff, and lyrics such as " ." Then there's , a reflection on a toxic relationship, with distinct echoes of Jonathan Davis in lyrics such as " .
" But, if influences from across the Atlantic have seeped into their blood, and the band are now resident in London, Fontaines haven't abandoned their Dublin City roots. Their good friends Kneecap recently celebrated about an emerging generation of Irish artists making "authentic, original" music - “None of this U2 kind of shit, making music for America: sad men singing in American accents" - and Grian Chatten's vocals could be from nowhere else. Atmospheric ballad takes its name from James Joyce's beautiful closing track evokes images of Dublin in the rain, albeit that Chatten told that its main subject is "booze and drugs, and depression.
" And the reference in to " " suggests that, while the band may be exploring new territories in life, love and locations, seeking chemical escape isn't something left behind across the Irish Sea. 2024 has been an incredible year for Irish music, with Kneecap, and New Dad having already delivered stunning debuts, and the likes of and Gurriers waiting in the wings. But, right now, this is Fontaines D.
C.'s moment. On , the opening track on , Grian Chatten sang, " ", a line imbued with a degree of sarcasm and cynicism, trading on the idea that in a capitalist society, only lives fuelled by naked ambition and dreams of success have merit, that only aspiration and attainment deserve praise.
Fontaines D.C.'s ascent has been conducted on their own terms, but with , they stand ready to take on the world, come whatever may.
A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller and Metallica ( , co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography ( in the UK, in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top.
Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal. Icelandic post-rockers Sólstafir share melodic new single Hún andar Bring Me The Horizon's Oli Sykes reveals that he "fell back into drugs" during the pandemic: "I was just so bored" “We’ll be back when it feels right”: Jack Black says Tenacious D will return from hiatus..
. at some point.
