Masterfully sitting on the knife edge of the avant-garde and the bold freeway of indie music, Fontaines D.C.’s indestructible and delicate new single “Starburster” offers a fresh, attitude-packed first look at their upcoming fourth studio album, ‘ROMANCE.’
by guest writer Hamish Monk
Stream: “Starburster” – Fontaines D.C.
I challenge you, dear reader, to name a contemporary British band capable of dolling out as much channelled, razor-sharp attitude as we hear on Fontaines D.C.’s new single, “Starburster.”
Released 17th April ahead of their upcoming album, ROMANCE, it is like an iron butterfly – at once indestructible and delicate; masterfully sitting on the knife edge of the avant-garde and the bold freeway of indie music.
I wanna see you alone, I wanna sharp the stone
I wanna bounce the bone, I wanna mess with it
I wanna lay the deville, the whole crew on the sill
I want the preacher and pill, I wanna bless with it
I wanna head to a mass and get cast in it
That sh*t’s funnier than any A-class, in’ it?
I wanna talk with the clown who has apologies down
Pay him 300 pound to take a class in it
I wanna bite the phone, I wanna bleed the tone
I wanna see you alone, alone, alone-lone
I wanna strait the shark and find me somewhere to park
Like the light when it’s dark, it’s dark, it’s dark-dark
A few stars about make it feel like peace in a way
A complimentary round
Constellation got a twist in it
For a GPO and all the hits in it
“Starburster” opens with that windy mellotron sound so synonymous with “Strawberry Fields,” before breaking into an overdriven drum groove and washed out vocal that could go unnoticed on Ian Brown’s “My Way.” Then comes the verse. What the vocal delivery lacks in melody it more than makes up for with blistering intensity and unmatched lyricism – inspired, allegedly, by a panic attack Grian had on the tube.
Perhaps the cherry on top of this barrage of post-punk panache, though, is the exquisitely tremoloed electric. It sounds like Bond swaggering through the scene of a car crash.
Subverting predictable song structure by the end of its run-time, “Starburster” hits a clearing in the woods, offering a deft moment of serenity and cinema – overseen by lush strings and a cascading upright.
I’m gon’ hit your business if it’s momentary blissness
I’m gon’ hit your business if it’s momentary blissness
With James Ford on production, this is a somewhat left-field direction for the otherwise choppy and authentic outfit from Dublin – but it totally lands. Fontaines D.C. are taking their spot at the vanguard of guitar music coming out of the UK.
It’s fresh, it’s authentic, it’s artful.
It’s everything guitar music was supposed to be.
But it’s also part of a wider cultural export from Ireland to the world, arriving in the wake of Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer, Barry Keoghan’s Saltburn, and Element Pictures’ Poor Things.
I wanna talk with a gag if it’s a bottle or bag
I wanna strike with the SAG, I need the friends from it
I want a shot in the dark, I wanna make the mark
I want to live the arc, I call the ends on it
I wanna take the truth without a lens on it
My God given insanity, it depends on it
How I feel? How I feel? How I feel? I wanna keel
Over harder than a turned up challenger
I wanna keep all of your charm in a canister
Do you inspire like the same did Salinger?
I’m the pig on the Chinese calendar
I got a shadow like a .58 Caliber
I wanna move like a new Salamander
I love the carrion who’s a real Scavenger
It’s moral tyranny keeping me from thee
The question remaining is, how far can this band of Dubliners go?
Will they brazenly spearhead a lasting post-punk revival? Or will they have to dilute their sound in order to truly break out internationally and get the ultimate festival slot on home soil?
Their upcoming album, ROMANCE, will give us an idea of their plan. Fontaines D.C.’s highly-anticipated fourth LP is out 23rd August via XL Recordings / Remote Control Records.
Hit me for the day for the light
That you suffered to come by
Take to my sky never wanting
Only wonder
To live out of reach, sloping family
Short to tall, one to three
Swallow the key in their footprints
I will follow…
I’m gon’ hit your business if it’s momentary blissness
I’m gon’ hit your business if it’s momentary blissness
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Hamish Monk is a freelance writer with over 10 years’ experience working alongside content agencies, PR firms, and journalistic titles. His partiality for guitar music stems from playing with a band in and around London from the age of 18.
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:: stream/purchase Romance here ::
:: connect with Fontaines D.C. here ::
Stream: “Starburster” – Fontaines D.C.
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