Romance - Fontaines D.C.: Review
This one always rubs people the wrong way. I've never been a fan of Fontaines D.C. despite giving the band shot after shot after shot every single time they emerge with new music. That culminated in their third album, 2022's Skinty Fia. After absolutely loving the record's lead single Jackie Down The Line I thought it was time they finally clicked with me, but when I reviewed the record in full I found it even weaker than their already underwhelming discography so far. It brings me no joy to report that I've been fooled again.
I was excited for this record once again based on a single track, the second single and album closer Favourite. It may be my favorite song the band has ever released as they shift their sound into a blissed-out combination of 80s psychedelia and 90s shoegaze. It's so genuinely life-affirming in a way I never expected to hear from the band and I find it completely irresistible. The one thing I'll say for this record is that it has more interesting and diverse sonic ideas than any other album in the band's catalog and occasionally they hit.
Opener and title track Romance is such an eerie start to the album with these haunted-house toy piano keys hovering in the background. It adds so much strange context to the lyrics music on romance that has thematic ties throughout the rest of the record. The second half of the album is rather boring but it does contain my favorite deep cut. Death Kink is evocatively titled and has a number of strong lyrical moments that feed back into that intrigue. It also has a great vocal performance and the way the second chorus is kicked off with just vocals an expanded on afterward is a rush of pure excitement.
My biggest problem with Romance is different from its predecessor. While Skinty Fia features numerous songs I outright couldn't stand, this record is just a lot more boring. Numerous songs here have a good idea at their core but simply play it straight over and over again without anything more to offer. Here's The Thing was a single that dropped with grinding guitars and a memorable hook I like. But all it really does it play that but out over and over with less interest every time. Desire is the same way deploying brooding layered vocals and creeping lyrics on the very concept of desire, but it never goes anywhere.
Deep cuts throughout the record have similar issues. Bug has an extremely memorable "now I'm higher than anyone else" refrain both I can't remember a single other thing about the song despite numerous listens. Motorcycle Boy is one of the more eventful songs on the record with sunny strumming instrumentation that's a nice change for the record. Unfortunately, it's followed up by Sundowner and Horseness In The Whatness, two of the record's most boring songs.
Sometimes the album does go full-on bad though. In The Modern World was released as a single and I'll never understand why because its commentary is deeply understated and mostly implied plus its refrains are absolutely dessert dry. That brings us to the lead single Starburster, a song people seem to like despite the fact I reacted extremely negatively at first. Even though the song has a distinct swagger to it that makes it interesting to ask people their thoughts on, it never really grew on me as an actual song.
Romance fooled me again. Despite my distaste for the lead single the band managed to serve up a song so good that it raised my expectations despite it all. Yet once again I continue to be far off base from many other fans and critics in my assessment of the record. Fontaines D.C. shift decisively away from post-punk and a few times hit on something really interesting. But in large part the record completely fails to capitalize on most of its best ideas. 4.5/10
For more rock, check out my review of Jack White's No Name
