Fontaines D.C. share pummelling new single ‘Starburster’ and announce new album ‘ROMANCE’

nme.com:

Fontaines D.C. have shared their pummelling new single ‘Starburster‘ and announced details of their fourth album ‘ROMANCE’. Check it out below.Having been teasing the follow-up to 2022’s acclaimed ‘Skinty Fia‘ over the past week, now the Irish five-piece have announced that they’ve signed to XL Recordings (Radiohead, King Krule, The xx) for fourth album ‘ROMANCE’ – produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Depeche Mode) and due this August.The record comes launched by ‘Starburster’ – a song inspired by frontman Grian Chatten suffering a panic attack and accompanied by a sinister and cinematic video directed by Aube Perrie (Megan Thee Stallion, Harry Styles, The Hives).Reviewing the track, NME noted how it appears to mark how the band have “taken a perfect left turn”, adding: “Leaning on the Massive Attack trip-hop noir vibes first hinted at on ‘Skinty Fia’’s title track, ‘Starburster’ is a pensive art-rock beast that fuses elements of electronica and hip-hop more akin to their fellow striking countrymen (and recent collaborators) KNEECAP as Chatten spits: “I’m gon hit your business if it’s momentary blissness *BREEEAAAATHE*”.“Bravado meets psychedelia as the frontman says he’s “over harder than a turned up challenger” and “the pig on the Chinese calendar”.

The video, too – a fever dream of blood, animals and a cast of misfits trying to find their way – further supports their referencing of Shygirl and Sega Bodega as key inspirations.”Read the full review here.Speaking about the title of the album, bassist Conor Deegan said: “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 (‘A Hero’s Death‘) is.