Photo Credit: Eimear Lynch
Despite its tough exterior, Fontaines D.C.‘s music has always delved into deep introspection. Early on, the Dublin quintet conveyed a belief that sheer ambition could overcome any mundane surroundings. As the band’s environment changed, so did their outlook. Over the last few years, Fontaines D.C. – now no longer based in Dublin – have shifted their focus from the literary idealism and harsh realities of Dublin and Ireland, which influenced their earlier work.
“Each album moves further away from seeing things through the lens of Ireland,” bassist Conor Deegan explained – referencing how their 2019 debut Dogrel offered a direct view, following year’s A Hero’s Death was more distant, and their 2022 release Skinty Fia felt almost dislocated entirely. Even though the band’s trademark sense of optimism and passion has always remained, they were inadvertently left at an artistic crossroads of “what else there is to be romantic about.”
While the quintet’s sound has evolved with each album, this underlying feeling has persisted throughout their work. Yet on Romance – their fourth album in five years, Fontaines D.C.‘s songwriting seems more acutely tuned to life’s complexities than ever before. The album explores the emotional duality of its title, especially how a tender love or desire can transform into something nearly overwhelming.
Love has always been a core theme for Fontaines D.C., and they’ve never been shy about showing it. Whether it’s love for each other as friends and bandmates, for musical experimentation, or for their home country of Ireland, their music has always been infused with intensity. Here however, the band seems to have shifted their focus from what they love to exploring the deeper question of why they love – examining the essence of love itself.
“Maybe romance is a place,” muses lead vocalist and primary songwriter Grian Chatten on the album’s titular opening track. Amidst a lush overture carefully laced with pounding bass lines and decaying cymbals, Chatten’s whispered delivery draws listeners into a dark, intense space, as if daring them to surrender to the album’s impending emotional weight. In Horseness is the Whatness – penned by guitarist Carlos O’Connell, and which quotes from one of the band’s literary idols, James Joyce – Chatten questions whether romance might be found in literature or even on a cigarette warning label, vowing to search for it relentlessly, “until death.”
The rest of the album feels expansive and surreal with Chatten sounding more alive than ever, displaying a wide emotional range from a crooner’s journey that’s happening in real time. From his breathless delivery and soulful vocals on early highlight Starburster, to the urgent falsetto and seductive sighs on Here’s the Thing, and a tearful head voice on Desire, his newfound performing flexibility is striking – and so is the band’s as a whole. Producer James Ford, known for shaping the sound of arena bands like Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, and Depeche Mode, has definitely influenced the quintet’s relationship and understanding with each other as musicians into this sonic transition towards Britpop, gothic Americana and alternative rock.
An interesting highlight is spotted near the album’s closing remarks with the dreampop-inspired Sundowner – described as an ode to friendship, it’s written and sung by Deegan, marking the first time in the band’s career where Chatten doesn’t take on frontline duties. Death Kink, as drummer Tom Coll has stated, “[is] another one of those band-in-a-room-jamming-out kind of tunes,” with its ragged guitar hooks and grungy backdrop harkening back to their signature gritty origins.
Despite the music’s overall grand passion, Fontaines D.C. find themselves trapped in emotional paralysis on Romance. “Dying inside cause I want to/Didn’t I say I wanted to?” Chatten pleads on centrepiece, Bug. Borne from the pressures of fame, numbness becomes alluring in the hypnotic but driven In the Modern World, while sentimentality is a dangerous sickness that leads to dire outcomes in Motorcycle Boy – inspired by and written for Chatten’s younger brother whose interest in poetry and literature is identified as his way of getting in touch with his older counterpart. Jangly-pop closer Favourite creates a playful paradox with its wistful-sounding lyrics bearing issues of addiction and depression – a duality that Chatten has described as a harbinger of death: “I don’t mean that in a negative sense—it sounds like surrendering to the flow.”
There is a lot to unpack in the 40-minute runtime of Romance. On one hand, the band’s once raw, provocative punk energy, characterised by guttural growls and relentless repetitive phrasing that resonated with an agitated generation, has largely faded. But rather than being outright replaced, these elements have been subtly reworked, as Fontaines D.C. now carries a confidence that reflects deeper, more systemic changes than mere shifts in style. The brilliance of Romance lies in its unsettling mix of chaotic energy and polished artistry – within such layers of detachment, the band strikes a captivating stance, reinventing themselves once more in the same unapologetic way that defines them since their humble beginnings.
8/10
Standout Tracks: Starbuster, Here’s the Thing, Favourite
For Fans Of: Idles, Gilla Band, Shame
Written by: Dimitris Vasileias
