From these plastered throughout them after the sonic rapture of their 2019 post-punk staple debut Dogrel to stay, backing away from their rabble-rousing entries, it ought to come as no shock that the band of their return for album 4 – Romance – are sporting 90s-drenched road glam and toting a mess of sounds that defy even these aesthetic expectations.
Whereas preliminary providing “Starburster” builds upon 2022’s Skinty Fia titular metallic reduce with its heavy, panic-attack-emulating industrial ferocity, every observe of Romance presents as a distinct – and extra importantly – a brand new aspect of the Dublin quintet. Contorting any expectations levied upon them with a extra grandiose ambition, one befitting a band frequently dominating arenas and fields, Fontaines as soon as once more dream massive and make it a actuality.
Starting with a foreboding aura, Romance‘s title observe echoes with the album’s thesis: “What if romance is a spot?” vocalist Grian Chatten ponders within the observe’s later moments. It is this concept that permeates their fourth outing – what’s romance on a granular stage, and what does Fontaines’ relationship with it sound like?
In answering that, Chatten’s voice finds new sides. Falling
all through to dramatic whispered hushes, breathy thrives, hip-hop
flows, and assured highs – the rigorous touring life is paying
dividends to his talents. Whereas most bands discover their second outing
toting the wears of the street, Fontaines’ fourth is the place the flamable
nature of touring marries artistic pressure ensuing on this emboldened
new entry.
Switching to James Ford for manufacturing (Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Jessie
Ware), Ford’s famend capability to deliver collectively ambitiously decadent
concepts reigns supreme right here. Serving to orchestrate a throughline of this
patchwork of concepts pays dividends because the grander character and
geographical work of their previous makes means for extra private choices as
they flip inward, processing the world they inhabit, somewhat than the
one they’ve mused upon beforehand. Songs fall out and in of focus,
both by means of bleary eyes (“Sundowner”) or juddering to life (“Demise Kink”), that is an
entity to be devoured as one: “Horseness Is The Whatness” shudders
itself into a wholly new life-form, whereas “In A Trendy World” – an
album standout – delicately matches Chatten’s opines a dystopian world
with an oddly welcoming embrace of loneliness, twinned with a darling
backing vocal from bassist Connor ‘Deego’ Deegan.
Musically, Fontaines are a band who’ve all the time moved with goal,
and on this occasion, there are nonetheless the bones of their previous
(post-punk droning and so on) however now they confidently transfer in any
path. Their pulling from new inspirations and concepts exposing their personalities greater than ever – the likes of
Korn, Huge Assault, anime Akira – blends seamlessly with their
already established motives as Chatten’s lyrics shine with poetic attraction
as ever: “I wanna head to a mass and get solid in it / That shit’s
funnier than any A-Class, innit?” (“Starbuster”).
The resoundingly catchy and chipper “Favorite” rounds off Romance,
the alternative finish of the opening observe’s woozy and ponderous rainbow.
Bestowing a torrent of melody in its repetitive guitar line and calling
refrain, it soars euphorically, earlier than the album falls away leaving nothing however a craving for
extra – and what could possibly be extra romantic than that?
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