Fontaines D.C. hit the BBC.
A new look, a new single and a new album.
The Fontaines D.C. train keeps on rolling into new territory and this time it looks set to hit America.
The boys have traded their literate post-punk Irishness for what they describe as the first “full step” of their careers and they’re pulling it off like champs.
‘Starburster’, the first single from upcoming album ‘Romance’, showed a new Fontaines D.C – and not just in sound but in artistic aesthetic.
That song was a statement-making stomper which propelled the band into a more commercial sphere.
Rocking their colourful 1990’s music video attire, the band appears free from their pretence and ready to explore the lighter side of life.
Breakout debut album ‘Dogrel’ documented Dublin’s essence with Joycean influence, follow-up ‘A Hero’s Death’ dug deeper into the melancholy.
And excellent third album ‘Skinty Fia’ explored the existence of Irishness in London, where the band members now live.
One thing the success of those albums earned them was a support slot on Arctic Monkeys‘ 2023 stadium tour of America, an experience which looks to have opened their eyes to the craft of becoming big stage beasts.
‘Starburster’ certainly makes that argument, especially in the effectiveness of its string-saturated bridge against the agro of its verses.
But new jangly number ‘Favourite’ has the ingredients to overtake its popularity.
A Cure-like celebration of life, time and death, the indie-pop track warms the heart in its nostalgic photo album radiance.
Last night saw the band take the song to the Later…With Jools Holland stage where it went down a treat with the BBC audience.
Maybe it’s less original than some of their previous work, but that’s also what makes it weirdly beautiful.
The band is free from every inch of ‘tortured artist’ syndrome here, forgetting the straining desire to be unique, boundary-breaking or intelligent to instead bask in a pool of sonic sun.
Lead singer Grian Chatten, from Skerries in Dublin, describes ‘Favourite’ as having “this never-ending sound to it, a continuous cycle from euphoria to sadness, two worlds spinning forever.”
You would imagine Fontaines D.C’s winter tour of the UK and Ireland will have a similar feeling.
A tour which concludes when they take to the 3Arena on Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th of December.
Far from their first homecoming, but these shows get bigger every time and this is sure to be the biggest and best return yet.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
