Fontaines D.C.
Romance

So far, 2024 has been quite interesting... first album by Bengala Fire and Grace Bowers (which I'll talk about), new album by Tom Odell, we should expect Lana Del Rey's new album in September, but most importantly the most awaited... "Romance" by Fontaines D.C.

Objectively speaking, the expectations were sky-high, were they met? Eeeeeh, yes, but there's a but.

I've read several reviews these days, as well as various interviews with Chatten and his band, where they've explained where the album comes from, what ideas it aims to reflect, the fact of observing Dublin no longer from London but from further away, a sort of globalization of the Dubliners, we might say. Well, this kind of information is interesting, but once read, I still think: "well, but what has this album concretely given me? Has it left me any kind of emotion?" Well, the answer is certainly positive and we will explore it further by talking about the song that most of all created its own universe inside of me.

First, I want to make a second observation on the various reviews I've read: they have compared them with the most unimaginable bands, without ever observing in a detached manner and without drawing parallels with the actual influences that inevitably characterize the tracks and most of the time diverge from their "rock style."

It's certainly impossible not to mention "Starbuster," which seems to have been born from a mutant half Chatten, half Eminem.

This fusion with Hip-Hop is really spot-on, especially the rhythmic mononote piano classic of the Hip-Hop scene has been adapted, and of course, the fantastic, sweeping rhythmic plot. In fact, "Starbuster" was the first single released in April, responsible for the high expectations for the work.

In line with the pop shift, I see a bit of Coldplay especially in "Desire," a beautiful melancholic ballad (and we find somewhat throughout the album) and also a bit of U2, both in the same "Desire" and in tracks like "Horseness is the whatness" (where many see James Ford's imprint, and thus of the AM, which I rather see more in a track like "Sundowner").

Anyway, all this spiel to say that no one, and I mean NO ONE, has noted that tragic goddess of Lana Del Rey dwelling inside "In the modern world."

Let's be clear, this album has several interesting and significant tracks (the already mentioned "Bug," "Sundowner," "Death Kink," "here's the thing"...), but "In the modern world" is out of this world... the string arrangement is amazing, very refined and post-apocalyptic, which means melancholic, nostalgic, having that sandy taste and ochre color. As a former violinist, it can only fill my chest like a seed germinating. Contributing to this musical ecstasy are the stunning Lana Del Rey-style choirs... they are a caress, a beatitude. Chatten has fine-tuned his voice, becoming more melodic, but here he touches a delicacy I never expected and which makes this album special, beautiful, but certainly more pop and therefore flatter than I usually find enjoyable.

This change, however, is part of a growth and globalization path, which I hope will lead them to become a loved band worldwide, serving as an interlude between the classic Arctic and something more Rock, beautiful and dramatic as always but more... popular.

(Small note of merit for the title track "Romance": very dark and imperial dystopian introduction at the same time.

Maybe Romance is a place.)