Every now and again, someone asks on Twitter (never X) about a band that you saw in the very beginning, who then went on to become big, and for years my answer was always Radiohead, supporting The Frank And Walters back in 1992, in a tiny club in Liverpool. However, my go to these days is now Fontaines D.C., who I discovered at a festival in the same city, in a space that is usually used for a small market stall, with approximately 15 enraptured others, we knew then there was something special about them.
And then 2019’s Dogrel showed us that we were correct, it’s a classic, one of the greatest debuts of recent times.
But then.
To these ears, follow-up A Hero’s Death that followed just 15 short months later sounded like the dictionary definition of a band exhausted by constant touring, a tired, tired record. They gave themselves a bit more time off and a bit more space with album number three Skinty Fia, a much more coherent album, but still not getting back to those dizzying heights of the early days.
Now, following singer Grian Chatten’s glorious solo record of last year, album number four has arrived. So where do we find them?
Well, the phrase ‘return to form’ is such a lazy music writer type trope to use so I won’t. Plus that doesn’t quite cover just what a set of songs they have delivered.
“Into the darkness again”…
It opens with the chilly, sinister title track that grips the ears straight from the off. ’Maybe romance is a place’’ , by the sound of this then if it is a place, it doesn’t instantly sound like one that you’re going to enjoy visiting, it broods with menace and intent.
The deadly recent single ‘Starburster’, with its breathless rap which hits as hard on the 10th listen as it does on the first, breathless being particularly apt due to Chattens’ gulps after each line of its chorus, inspired by a recent panic attack he suffered in London.
Latest single ‘Here’s The Thing’ is a bit more straightforward, sounding as if it could be an early 2000’s single from a Britpop band going through a maturity spurt (which sounds like an insult, but is meant as a compliment). The end of the breathy ‘Desire” introduces the string element to proceedings, which become far more noticeable as the record continues, as does the variety in the vocal style, it feels that there’s so much more character.
“This is the first album where I’ve actually loved my own voice,” Chatten says. “I sound most like myself on Romance.” Big words from the man who once walked out of the band’s own Dogrel listening party to go to the pub as he couldn’t stand listening to his vocal.
The fulcrum that the record hangs its hat on is the absolutely stunning ‘In The Modern World’, which was first written in LA, which only fuels its sense of disillusionment, with it’s “I don’t feel anything” refrain. You couldn’t have imagined them writing anything like this before now, it’s a game changer of a track, from whence they seem to blossom. Its a multilevel step up.
They then spent a month writing together again, three weeks of pre-production in a North London studio, and a month in a chateau close to Paris, sleeping among studio equipment, immersed in the making of this, without any external distractions and instead of it sounding closeted and introverted, they make it sound effortless rather than trying too hard, the record seems to just flow.
‘Motorcycle Boy’ sees the chanting chorus fade in and out of a sonic cornucopia, menacing drums hold sway, soundtracking proceedings like a scene from a Spanish western, and it’s with these flourishes the work of producer James Ford, last seen at the helm of the latest splendid Pet Shop Boys record, come to the fore. ‘Sundowner’ , described as “an ode to friendship’”, sees a change in writer and singer, both taken over by guitarist Conor Curley, which serves as another curveball and the album’s oldest track ‘Horseness Is The Whatness’ both serve to show off the rhythm section with massive thrashing drums, as well as the ever prevalent strings.
‘Death Kink’ has been lauded already online after making its recent live debut, this is the track that the band see this as the one that’s as close to Dogrel, a sign of the leap forward this is, as I would suggest that it’s probably the most basic and weakest track (relatively speaking, it’s still great) on the record.
The already released closer ‘Favourite’, is a blissful jangle, a perfect way to celebrate what’s gone before, a strident lap of honour.
Where they may once have sounded a little more tired of life, Romance sees them throwing the curtains wide open, it’s a record which sees them sound ready to take on the world again.
Romance is very much alive.
