In their highly anticipated fourth studio album ‘Romance,’ Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. explore the meaning of life, love, and desire – with the help of Korn, James Ford, and James Joyce.

Stream: ‘Romance’ – Fontaines D.C.

If romance is dead, then Fontaines D.C. did not kill it.

The band’s fourth studio album, Romance, takes a delicate turn off the dark, post-punk path they have roamed since the release of Dogrel in 2019 towards a trajectory of alt-rock stardom. Producer James Ford of Arctic Monkeys and Depeche Mode fame, deftly brought the band onto the world’s stage. Rumors of Korn’s influence on Romance piqued media interest in the weeks leading up to and following the release of the album’s lead single, “Starburster.”

How could something so decidedly American as nu-metal have inspired the most Irish band since The Cranberries? Upon further reading and listening, it became abundantly clear that, with Romance, Fontaines D.C. made a conscious decision to bid Ireland adieu (or slán) for now, and step on to a global stage.

'ROMANCE,' Fontaines D.C.'s highly-anticipated fourth album, is out 23rd August via XL Recordings / Remote Control Records — Romance – Fontaines D.C.

The music video for “Starburster” set the tone for the album’s release. Heavy percussion accompanies a lone Chatten juggling a soccer ball through a working-class Irish town. When the music abruptly stops and starts over from the beginning, bucolic scenes momentarily replace the previously bleak imagery.

The camera then cuts back to a now bloodied Chatten, puffing on an inhaler like his life depends on it – as if the peaceful farms pictured seconds ago were nothing more than a dream. The sudden shifts are emblematic of the inner conflict the band grapples with throughout the album, questioning what it means to move beyond their roots and more broadly, what life itself means.

“Starburster”: Like an Iron Butterfly, Fontaines D.C. Are Delicate & Indestructible

:: REVIEW ::

Romance’s titular track announces itself with a sense of foreboding. “Into the darkness again,” Chatten chants, as an orchestra of ominous strings disrupts the silence. Shrill piano notes and interspersed, thundering percussion add a theatrical element to the song. Although “Romance” is the opening track, it sounds like the accompaniment to the climax of a play, when the hero faces a seemingly insurmountable challenge and uncertainty prevails. “Maybe romance is a place / For me and you,” Chatten sings, “And you / And…” he leaves the heaviness of the question hanging in the air alongside emphatic synths.

Apprehension is tangible, dripping even, in tracks like “Desire” and “Death Kink,” where shadows of the band’s post-punk days hide between notes without fully emerging. “I see them driving into nothing where the nothing is sure / They drown their wishes in the fountain like their fathers before,” Chatten reasons in the former song, as the background vocals whisper, “All they want denied.” Guarantees of the unknown morph into uncertain truths in the latter track:

“Therе’s a certain kind of air, in the smoke
Must be some amount of truth in the joke
For it to make you laugh, ha ha ha!”

**Existential probes aside, Romance is full of earworms.**

“Favourite” belongs alongside the closing tracks of a 1980s rom-com (When Harry Met Sally comes to mind). Each note and each line come crashing down with a momentous wave of nostalgia. “I can claim the dreamer from the dream,” Chatten renders, and it’s easy to believe him. “Here’s the Thing” ties Fontaines D.C. ‘s definition of romance – “I feel your pain / It’s mine as well” – with distorted guitars and an impressive falsetto. The end result is wonderful chaos. “So here’s the thing / I need commotion,” Chatten admits.

The band members are no strangers to devotion in its lowest form. In “Bug,” promises are only as good as the shortcoming they conceal – “Well, I changed my name to ‘promise you,’ yeah / It’s easier than me making apologies, yeah.” The critically overlooked “Motorcycle Boy” shows the sort of one-sided devotion that leads itself to apathy over time:

“It’s finе, I know
You rain, I snow
You stay, I go”

It’s a marked departure from the band’s outlook in “In the Modern World,” a Lana Del Rey reminiscent track that touches on the dizziness of new feelings, both good and bad, and their aftermath. “I feel alive / in the city / that you like,” Chatten sings, touching on how exciting the world can feel when seen through the eyes of a lover. At the start of the second verse, the lyrics shift to create a subtle yet important distinction. “I feel alive / in the city / you despise,” he harmonizes, highlighting the fickleness of human emotion — how easily love can turn to hate in the span of a verse.

The band’s queries come to a head in “Horseness is the Whatness.” The album’s ninth track, which pays obvious homage to a fellow Irish great, James Joyce, references a line in the author’s controversial novel, Ulysses, that explores art’s role in the nature of existence. As Chatten croons the first verse, “Basics, understanding basics,” rich strings add a cinematic component to the song, evoking the soundtrack to a coming-of-age period piece. “Will someone / Find out what the word is / That makes the world go round?” Chatten begs, “‘Cause I thought it was ‘love.” The answer, it turns out, may have been right under their noses (or ears) all along. The song’s base beat is set to the ultrasound heartbeat of Guitarist Carlos O’Connell’s daughter.

Romance, through all of its ups and downs, points to why it’s all worth it in the smallest of moments. In spite of the agony of consciousness (or the “agenbite of inwit,” as penned by Joyce), love loves to love love.

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