Earlier this week, Irish post-punk quintet Fontaines D.C. released the incendiary “Starburster,” the first single from their upcoming album Romance. The album will be the follow-up to the Dublin-based group’s incredible third album Skinty Fia, released back in 2022. Volatile, ruminative, brooding, and slightly gothic, Skinty Fia was largely influenced and informed by, in frontman Grian Chatten’s words, “Irishness existing in England,” as well as the resulting chaos, conflict, and culture that has resulted from it; “I Love You,” one of the best songs that the group has ever released, was inspired by exactly this (also, please watch the live version they did at Glastonbury… one of the best live versions of any song I’ve ever heard). However, the new album marks a stark divergence from that focus, for in regard to Romance, guitarist Conor Deegan explained:
“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 is about Irishness dislocated in the diaspora. Now we look to where and what else there is to be romantic about.”
Chatten expounded further that the album is also “about protecting the tiny flame” that comes with “falling in love at the end of the world;” the “bigger armageddon looms,” he explained, “the more precious it becomes.” This unparalleled desire is portrayed through the stream-of-consciousness passion of “Starburster,” the huge sweeps of guitar, the percussion that simulates a beating heart. A solid amalgamation of post-punk, hip hop, and a bit of psychedelia, the track’s title is apt, and brings to mind a quote from American modernist author Nathanael West: “You only have time to explode.”
Romance is out 8/23 via XL Recordings. Pre-order the absolutely stunning pink vinyl here (I sure did).
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photo by Theo Cottle
kid with a vinyl 