Fontaines D.C. release their highly anticipated fourth album, ROMANCE, on XL Recordings. Out August 23, ROMANCE is the band's first album with producer James Ford and is without a doubt their most ambitious, inventive and sonically adventurous album to date. It follows the success of 2022's "Skinty Fia", which reached #1 on the UK and Ireland album charts and earned the band a number of awards, including "International Group of the Year" at the 2023 BRIT Awards. The new album's 11 tracks bring together ideas that Grian Chatten (vocals), Carlos O'Connell (guitar), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan (bass) and Tom Coll (drums) have developed since the release of "Skinty Fia" in 2022 while touring the US and Mexico with the Arctic Monkeys. The five band members shared their music and found a connection with artists who deftly build their own expansive creative worlds: the attitude and aesthetic sheen of artists such as Shygirl and Sega Bodega, the bold sonic palettes of hip hop and heavy metal, Mos Def, A$AP Ferg, OutKast and Korn. They had time to themselves to develop their own visions for the music of the future: O'Connell went to the Spanish region of Castile-La Mancha and later became a father, while Chatten spent time in LA and Deegan in Paris. They put down deeper roots in London. Each member spent time exploring their personal boundaries - experimental riffs, chord progressions and far-fetched lyrical allusions with no intention of ultimately making a record. After completing the US arena tour in fall 2023, they spent a month writing together again, three weeks of pre-production in a studio in north London and a month in a castle near Paris, sleeping among the studio equipment and completely immersed in their music. The band's sonic evolution, which cut its teeth on antagonistic punk sensibilities on its early albums, is an ascent to grungier breaks, dystopian electronica, hip-hop percussion, and dreamy Slowdive-esque textures that may surprise fans. The shoegaze touchpoints first heard on "Skinty Fia" continue to unfold on "ROMANCE." But any "retro aesthetic," as Chatten describes it, remains behind. Looking ahead to the upcoming release, Chatten says, "We're saying things on this record that we've wanted to say for a long time. I never feel like it's over, but it's nice to feel lighter." The fantasy is palpable, for better or for worse, and Fontaines D.C. embrace both ends of oblivion.
