Dublin indie / rock n’ roll / alt band Fontaines D.C. have announced the release of their highly-anticipated fourth album “Romance“.
The album’s announcement comes with the release of new single “Starburster” and its accompanying video. The follow-up to their 2022’s acclaimed album Skinty Fia, will be out on August 23rd via XL Recordings and is the band’s first album with producer James Ford. Pre-order your copy here.
According to the press release, ROMANCE is Fontaines D.C.s most ambitious, inventive and sonically adventurous record yet, its 11 tracks constellating ideas that have been percolating among Grian Chatten (vocals), Carlos O’Connell (guitar), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan (bass), and Tom Coll (drums) since they released Skinty Fia.
Of the album’s title, Conor Deegan says:
“We’ve always had this sense of idealism and romance. Each album gets further away from observing that through the lens of Ireland, as directly as Dogrel. The second album is about that detachment, and the third (Skinty Fia) is about Irishness dislocated in the diaspora. Now we look to where and what else there is to be romantic about.”
The record’s lead single “Starburster”, is inspired by a panic attack lead singer Grian Chatten suffered in London’s St Pancras station, the song is punctuated by sharp feral intakes of breath. Its propulsive beat and unrelenting lyrics establish self-destruction as fantasy before a brief moment of sobering clarity when the drums fall away and Chatten moves from spitting, almost-rap into an almost-psalm, his baritone rich and dreamy.
The cinematic music video from director Aube Perrie captures the song’s cathartic intensity to brilliant effect.
Check out “Starburster” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and artwork.
Fontaines D.C. Romance tracklist:
- Romance
- Starburster
- Here’s The Thing
- Desire
- In The Modern World
- Bug
- Motorcycle Boy
- Sundowner
- Horseness is the Whatness
- Death Kink
- Favourite
Photo credit: Theo Cottle
