Hip hop
A fantastic record that bursts with ideas and detail…
22 · 08 · 2024
Watching Fontaines D.C. tour their third album ‘Skinty Fia’ was a rare experience. Finally shedding their post-punk skin, the band seemed to evolve in real-time, changing radically from show to show. Catching them supporting Sam Fender for a mammoth set in North London’s Finsbury Park, it was clear that they were becoming something new, and palpably exciting. Since then, they’ve changed labels – moving from Partisan to XL – and recruited a new producer, in the form of James Ford; with ‘ROMANCE’ the slate is wiped clean, and all bets are off.
So, let’s get this out the way first: ‘ROMANCE’ is not only the best album Fontaines D.C. have yet put their name to, it’s also undoubtedly one of the most impressive albums 2024 will cough up. Shot through with intention and daring, it moves from bolshy rock riffs to subtle electronica via shoegaze pastures and the odd moment of lovelorn balladry. A record that seems to ask ‘what if…?’ at every turn, it refuses to be subsumed beneath studio trickery. Beneath it all, these might well be the most mature, poetic, engaging songs Fontaines D.C. have ever written.
A record of bold risks, ‘ROMANCE’ actually opens in the most subtle way possible. The title track kicks us off – the eerie electronics reminiscent of the kind of paranoia Ridley Scott conjured in Alien. Glacial and pensive, it’s a million miles away from the skittering garage punk which made debut album ‘Dogrel’ such an immediate indie thrill. Oblique yet frankly emotional, it’s cut in two by savage electronics, while Grian Chatten murmurs: “I pray for your kindness… maybe romance is a place?”
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But this isn’t an exercise in navel-gazing. Lead single ‘Starburster’ remains absolutely terrific, and if anything benefits from being heard in its full creative context – the swagger of Tom Coll’s drums, the wheezing synths, and Grian’s searing vocal. It’s the sound of a band in complete control, working with absolute confidence. Who the hell else would include a lyric about a salamander, for God’s sake?
The thing is, where ‘ROMANCE’ truly impresses is its consistency. Not a second, not a single note is wasted – ‘Here’s The Thing’ may be a PIXIES-esque crusher, but ‘In The Modern World’ is a profoundly emotional exhalation set against the glittering-yet-isolating lights of Los Angeles. The breadth is staggering, but there’s unity there, too.
‘Desire’ moves from fantastic under-statement to simply letting the sonics bleed out, the colours rich but disorienting; ‘Sundowner’ sounds like an old Slowdive cassette left to warp in the hazy summer weather, while the delicate strings of ‘Horseness Is The Whatness’ suggest a whole other dimension to the band.
Sonically, each song feels incredibly impactful, laced with data and feeling. ‘Motorcycle Boy’ rests on that acoustic guitar run, but its mirrored by strange vocal samples in the background, stretched to infinity by James Ford’s studio techniques; ‘Bug’ at its core is probably a pop song, but you’d never know it from Grian’s vocal about “dying inside…”
‘ROMANCE’ is a record that reaches ever-outward in every possible direction. The band pull together in rare unity, each part in conversation with the next. A note, too, on Grian’s lyrics – strange, arresting word clusters that reach to express the universal via a lens that feels truthfully Irish.
The run up to ‘ROMANCE’ has been paved by hype and expectation – with only a few hours to go, we feel compelled to say this could prove to be Fontaines D.C.’s finest moment. It’s a stunning record, one of depth but also immediacy; it exists to be adored.
9/10
Words: Robin Murray
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