Fontaines DC is part of this armada of young groups based in Great Britain who carry the torch of rock high. With Romancea fourth album in just five years, the Irish quartet finds its niche by displaying exemplary musical maturity.
The raw energy of the second disc A Hero’s Dream – nominated for a Grammy in the rock album of the year category in 2021 – had been contained on Skinty Fia and this is still the case on Romancethe group pushing the experimentation a little further with obvious assurance. The support of director James Ford certainly has something to do with it, he who is a master in the art of marrying guitars and electro sounds – he has notably worked with Depeche Mode, Arctic Monkeys and Gorillaz.
The result is a unique amalgam that sits somewhere in an unlikely subset of goth rock, Americana, ’90s Britpop and the indie of the following decade. Vocalist Grian Chatten even takes it a step further with a quasi-hip-hop phrasing on the brilliant Starbuster -THE Rolling Stone claims that this is one of the best songs of 2024 and we agree with that assessment.
Elsewhere, Fontaines DC go into uninhibited shoegaze mode, but by wrapping it all in string arrangements that add even more tension to already dark pieces – Desire And Horseness is the Whatness are the most beautiful manifestations of this.
As for the electro touches, they are used everywhere with finesse, in the service of carefully woven soaring atmospheres. Romance And Sundowner both have that je ne sais quoi of art rock that allows us to measure the enormous potential still untapped at Fontaines DC
Excerpt from Starburster, by Fontaines DC
Post-punk
Romance
DC Fountain
XL Recording Ltd