Fontaines DC's fourth album, Romanceshuffles the cards of what made the sap of his post-punk aura of yesteryear, for the love of melody
The Irish are changing. Prolific since their first album, the explosive Dogrel (2019), the group DC Fountains continues to climb the ladder: a dark and heady second opus (A Hero's Deathprobably their best?), a third album, Skinty Fiabreaking records with the single “I Love You”, all accompanied by a producer who brilliantly led the way, the aptly named Dan Carey… The time for change has now come. For this fourth album, exit Partisan Records, the group signs with XL Recordings and broadens the scope of possibilities of its sound panel, this time with James Ford at the controls (Arctic Monkeys). Named Romancethis new album blurs the lines of post-punk which made their first successes, taking paths towards Britpop. The concept: “falling in love at the end of the world,” explains frontman and singer Grian Chatten. “The album is about protecting that little flame. The closer Armageddon gets, the more precious it becomes.”
This central idea is found sparingly in Romanceprobably the most ambitious and extensive attempt of the Dublin-based band. All forms linked to idealism collide with a tone of gravity in the singer's delivery of speech: we think of the first single released from the album, “Starbuster”, which has all the makings of a cult track, in which Chatten shouts out loud, clears his voice. He then goes into surprising high notes with “Here's The Thing”, with a catchy melody. Later, a gentle darkness embraces us, “In The Modern World” and “Horseness Is The Whatness” reveal a group more in tune with its elders – we think of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen. In the final track, the pop/folk emulsion “Favorite”, the shadow of Oasis hovers, perhaps involuntarily. There is, in Romancea pure attempt at entertainment. Fontaines DC has never sounded so “popular” (the clips, for their part, still so cinematic) and we, we remain in the front row, our eyes dazzled. A record that has the effect of a rose, beautiful but thorny.
Romancethe new album from Fontaines DC, available from Friday August 23 (via XL Recordings).
