FONTAINES D.C.’S RETURN
Opulent, Sensual, And Psychedelic
Twelve years and five albums into their career, and the one thing we know of Irish post-punks Fontaines D.C. — not to be cliche — is that the unexpected is to be expected.
Grian Chatten’s deadpan delivery, deftly employing fuzz so as to enhance the drone with the brogue, is of course present and correct on new single “Marianne,” but this isn’t a band that has a blueprint. From what sounds like bells at the start and the echo on the drums, to the bridge that pops in after just two lines, then the chant-along chorus, “Marianne” is a song that throws more than a couple of melodic/production curveballs.
As good as the song is, taken from forthcoming fifth album Dopamine Chamber (due October 16), the video is better. A glorious barrage of psychedelic colors and church-like imagery, we get sensual dancing and visages that switch from pleasured to tortured in a blink. It’s kind of like Suspiria, had it been created during the rave era.
“This year, you should come and stay here, You can follow my lead, I can help you disappear,” Chatten sings. Honestly, that’s tempting. The man has a way about him, a seductive tone to his sweet drone, that gifts him the ability to get people to follow him anywhere. He’s like an alt-rock Pied Piper. So sure, you lead, we’ll follow. Let’s see where we end up.
Dopamine Chamber will drop on XL Recordings, and it’s the follow up to 2024’s Romance. “It arrives like a constellation behind undulating sighs of smog: potent balladry, anthemic melodies glinting through the murk. In a world tipping towards collapse, it asks how pleasure mutates amid peril—and what our pursuit of it reveals about us,” the group said in a statement about the release.
“The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” says Chatten. “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”
The first single is a delicious first taste of a record we can’t wait to hear.
