Fontaines D.C. have been reinventing guitar music with their ever-expanding experimental sounds since the release of their ground-breaking debut record ‘Dogrel’ in 2019, and ‘Romance’ is an album that is just as poignant as that first as they shatter post-punk expectations with a cinematic work of Irish art.
Every Fontaines album released has allowed the listener to experience the emotions of the band, exploring different chapters of their lives which many fans find relatable to their own. In ‘Skinty Fia’, we saw the Dubliners express the guilt they had to process about leaving their beloved home country and moving to London, as admiration for their talent blossomed around the world as they became a ‘Big Shot’. ‘Romance’ is no different in the way that it is an album of expression and pure honesty, but this record shows a more profound certainty and validation to the thought process of Fontaines.
The title track ‘Romance’ starts our dive into the record with a tense, eerie atmosphere that evokes the shivering scene from ‘The Shining’. Our first glimpse of this record was a video that allowed us to experience the iconic lifts leaking with green gunge (instead of the blood from Stanley Kubrick’s blockbuster), alongside this atmospheric and alarming piece of music that starts the album off beautifully and leads us into its first single, ‘Starburster’. A revolutionary and radical single that shook the music scene with frontman Grian Chatten’s gasps for air and looming keys performed by Carlos O’Connell.
From ‘Starburster’, we enter the deep grunginess of ‘Here’s The Thing’ which creates an expressive and passionate sound with constant guitar noise and battering drums. The video for this track shows similarities to another classic horror movie ‘The Exorcist’, featuring a rebirth of an Irish dancer continuing the cinematic theme ‘Romance’ exuberates.
‘Romance’ slowly crawls out of the dark environment Fontaines D.C. have created with lighter, more ethereal tracks; such as ‘Desire’ which brings a sound that is more vulnerable and translucent alongside honest and thought-provoking lyrics. In ‘Desire’ we hear the words ‘‘It's High to be Wanted / But haunted is Higher / And the change requires / Desire’’ letting the listener in to the world of fame and the high that comes with the rush to stardom and its adjustments needed individually and as a group.
Grian Chatten’s poetry and talent for songwriting bleeds beautifully throughout the record and indeed the band’s discography. ‘Horseness Is The Whatness’ continues the lighter, more positive side of ‘Romance’ and contains something of a moment of realisation for the record in the lyrics ‘‘you choose or you exist’’. The classical string sounds of this track add a new dimension to the record, but we still get to hear those looming dark notes of thunder making the listener feel like you have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.
A standout track on this phenomenal record is ‘Death Kink’, a song that is going to sound impeccable live with its punchy drums, repetitive beats and shout-along lyrics chanting ‘‘shit, shit, shit / battered’’. This track will certainly make an insane amount of noise when fans see Fontaines live on their ‘Romance’ tour this November.
The perfect ending to this already perfect album is the nostalgic sounding single ‘Favourite’ which has taken the music scene by storm with its inspiring, loving, and all-round stunning soundscape. The closer explains the love the band have for their lives and the people in them, making this a track that many will hold close to their hearts.
Fontaines D.C. have been producing virtuous and flourishing music for seven years, and for the band to continue to defy musical boundaries and creativities is truly extraordinary. This record proves why Fontaines D.C. are one of the most prolific and astounding musicians of current times.
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