At the end of summer, Fontaines D.C. revealed a new side of the band through Romance, their new album. After listening to it on repeat, here’s my review.
ROMANCE – FONTAINES D.C.
Romance might just be a place. The fourth album by the Irish band holds one of its keys. To unlock it, Fontaines D.C. delves into the darkness and asks the question with the title track, Romance. Right from the start, it growls, promises, and hopes. Rather than eternal love, it is an eternal romance that the band seeks, even in the depths of the world. Their hit Starbuster is brighter without being gentle. It exudes the city’s progressive effervescence, plunging into panic with a powerful breathlessness in the chorus. Adventurous in flow and textures, it highlights its raw poetry over a range of sounds, from a piano to a trip-hop beat and arrangements blending electronic and pure rock. In short, it’s a banger and already a classic from the band.
Following this is Here’s The Thing, inspired by highly visual horror films, and with its ultra-catchy chorus, it sways between eerie pop and bright garage. It’s all about contrast, which I love, and it’s fair from over. Throughout this album, the band conjures up vivid imagery from all over. While Ireland flows through their veins, Fontaines D.C. paints through Desire the impressive, poetic, and vast view from the top of a tower of concrete and steel. They no longer talk about their roots as prominently as they did on their earlier albums. However, everything they reveal here is deeply vulnerable.
All of this is evident in the first four tracks of the album, but what follows is just as strong. In The Modern World picks up the imagery of concrete and steel, this time seeing it collapsing. It’s accompanied by captivating, airy orchestral strings, resulting in a sound that’s as ethereal as it is contrasting. The band has mentioned that Akira is one of their references here, and I’m convinced that many other manga could be found in the imagery invoked by Romance.
For Bug, another landscape emerges, with different genres, and the lyrics reveal another side of romance. The kind that fails, that slips away, that also hurts… Because Fontaines D.C. doesn’t shy away from the darkest themes, Motorcycle Boy follows, hypnotic with its loops and intense, mixed, and harsh emotions. Dreamlike, Sundowner oscillates, for me, between morning light and the middle of the night. Here, there’s a sense of invincibility that goes hand in hand with vulnerability, and this production strengthens their complementary relationship. This time, Grian Chatten is not the lead voice, instead accompanying the guitarist Conor Curley on the chorus.
As the album reaches its final stretch, it evolves once more. Horseness Is The Whatness, inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses, brings in a beautiful string section and a thunderous drum beat. Beyond its romantic aesthetic, it is driven by filial love, a desire to pass something on. It’s sublime! The contrast then strikes with the sensually toxic Death Kink, much more saturated but just as human because it’s cathartic. Contrast once again when Favourite arrives next, closing the album with a sincere and tender smile. All kinds of love find their place in the heart of this album, and this track could not illustrate it better, thanks to its catchy chorus and shimmering guitar.
The light of London after a summer storm, rain streaming down the cobbles of Dublin, a gentle afternoon under the Tuscan sky, the pastel morning sky of Tokyo, or, on the contrary, its most dystopian and vibrant sides… All these landscapes exist within the album. At least, that’s what it evoked for me. Their influences have changed without ever undoing their identity. The result is deeply moving! The gap between this and their previous albums is widening. The musical evolution is undeniable, and Romance gives Fontaines D.C. a timeless and intergenerational unmatched potential.
