FONTAINES D.C. – Romance – LP – Black Vinyl

LP – Standard Edition Black Vinyl.

Fontaines D.C. announce details of their highly-anticipated fourth album, ROMANCE. Released on 23rd August via XL Recordings, ROMANCE is the bands first album with producer James Ford and is without doubt their most assured, inventive and sonically adventurous record yet. Its set to build on the success of the Dublin-made, now London-based bands acclaimed 2022 album Skinty Fia, which reached number 1 in the UK and Irish album charts and saw the band receiving a host of accolades including International Group of the Year at the 2023 BRIT Awards.

Heralding Fontaines D.C.s latest creative (r)evolution is the explosive lead single Starburster. Inspired by a panic attack lead singer Grian Chatten suffered in Londons St Pancras station, the song is punctuated by sharp feral intakes of breath. Its propulsive beat and unrelenting lyrics establish self-destruction as fantasy before a brief moment of sobering clarity when the drums fall away and Chatten moves from spitting, almost-rap into an almost-psalm, his baritone rich and dreamy. Its accompanied by a cinematic music video from director Aube Perrie (Megan Thee Stallion, Harry Styles, The Hives) that captures the songs cathartic intensity to brilliant effect.

ROMANCE is Fontaines D.C.s most ambitious, expansive record yet, its 11 tracks constellating ideas that have been percolating among Grian Chatten (vocals), Carlos OConnell (guitar), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan (bass), and Tom Coll (drums) since they released Skinty Fia in 2022. These ideas crystalised while touring the U.S. and Mexico with Arctic Monkeys as the five band members shared music and found a throughline with artists that deftly build out their own sprawling creative worlds: the attitude and aesthetic sheen of artists like Shygirl and Sega Bodega, the bolshy sonic palettes of hip hop and heavy metal, Mos Def, A$AP Ferg, OutKast and Korn. They had time apart to build more singular visions for what future music could be: OConnell went to Spains Castile-La Mancha and later became a new father, while Chatten spent time in LA, and Deegan in Paris. They laid deeper roots in London. Each member spent time pushing their boundaries experimental riffs, chord progressions, and far-flung lyrical references without intentions for a record. After wrapping up the US arena tour in Autumn 2023, they spent a month writing together again, three weeks of pre-production in a North London studio, and a month in a chateau close to Paris, sleeping among studio equipment, completely immersed.

Of the albums title, Conor Deegan says, Weve always had this sense of idealism and romance. Each album gets further away from observing that through the lens of Ireland, as directly as (Mercury Prize-nominated debut) Dogrel. The second album (the GRAMMY-nominated A Heros Death) is about that detachment, and the third (Skinty Fia) is about Irishness dislocated in the diaspora. Now we look to where and what else there is to be romantic about.

Expounding on the theme, Chatten recalls Katsuhiro tomos anime Akira, where the embers of love develop despite a maelstrom of technological degradation and political corruption around its characters. Im fascinated by that – falling in love at the end of the world, he says. The album is about protecting that tiny flame. The bigger armageddon looms, the more precious it becomes, while OConnell adds This record is about deciding whats fantasy the tangible world, or where you go in your mind. What represents reality more? That feels almost spiritual for us.

The sonic evolution of the band, who bared their teeth in early records with antagonistic punk sensibilities, is an ascent into grungier breaks, dystopian electronica, hip-hop percussion, and dreamy Slowdive-esque textures that may surprise fans. The shoegaze touchpoints first pressed on Skinty Fia unfold on ROMANCE like a purpling bruise. But any retro aesthetic, as Chatten describes it, is left behind. Reflecting on the impending release, Chatten says, We say things on this record weve wanted to say for a long time. I never feel like it’s over, but its nice to feel lighter. The fantasy is felt for better or worse, and Fontaines D.C. welcome either end of oblivion.

Tracklist:

1. Romance
2. Starburster
3. Here’s The Thing
4. Desire
5. In The Modern World
6. Bug
7. Motorcycle Boy
8. Sundowner
9. Horseness Is The Whatness
10. Death Kink
11. Favourite