Between the release of 2022’s Skinty Fia, a number one album in Ireland, England and Scotland, and Romance, Irish post-punkers Fontaines D.C.’s fourth studio LP, the group’s members relocated from Dublin to London and moved their band’s home from the indie label Partisan to the much more prestigious XL Recordings. As such, Romance stands as a make it or break it moment in Fontaines D.C.’s relatively short, remarkable career, one that’s taken them from scrappy indie upstarts to becoming part of a much larger platform, one offering a showcase with wider visibility for a group who, since their 2019 debut, has had the distinct honor of not only having an album go number one in the UK but also taking home the Brit Award for International Group.
The new record’s title track opens Romance, the song building slowly, utilizing dark tones paired with doomy synths. Any lingering comparisons of lead singer Grian Chatten sounding like The Fall’s Mark E. Smith are immediately wiped away as he croons melancholically, something MES would never have dared attempt. The two-and-a-half-minute track rolls into “Starburster”, a comparatively upbeat number that has Chatten literally gasping in rhythm at the end of every refrain as he repeats, “I’m gonna hit your business if it’s momentary blissness.” The band shifts from post-punk to peppy synth-driven alt rock during “Here’s the Thing”, the album’s strong third single.
The mood of the songs on the rest of Romance’s first side, and most of its second, rarely stray from slow burning ballads and mid-tempo numbers that occasionally employ an emotive string section or reverb-heavy backing vocals. These aren’t complaints. For whatever reason, the unhurried moments are the ones that seem to be working best for Fontaines D.C. here. The trilogy that begins with the dreamy “Sundowner” followed by the acoustic-driven “Motorcycle Boy” and concludes with the beautifully orchestrated “Horseness Is the Whatness” make for a pleasantly mellow second half.
The grungy “Death Kink” and its neighbor, Romance’s spritely ender, “Favourite”, make for an odd pairing to end things on, but both songs are solid enough in their own right. At over four minutes, “Favourite” is not only one of Romance’s longest tracks but the record’s most emotionally optimistic in both tone and lyrics. Fontaines D.C.’s fourth album may not have a song as catchy as Skinty Fia’s “Jackie Down the Line” but what Romance doesn’t have in hooks it more than makes up for in heart.
Rating: 7.3/10
