Romance

And in December of 2023, the band announced a collaborative EP with massive attacking young fathers called Ceasefire to raise money for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza.

In 2024, the band releases their album Romance, which also is met with, like, massive success.

And again, kind of follows along this... of their music kind of eventually becoming a little bit more melodic.

And this has a little bit more experimentation with rap influence, shoegaze influence.

I know, I was like, hello.

So yeah, so that was a surprise.

The song Sundowner on Romance is sung by Connor, which is actually the first song in their discography to not feature Brianna on the lead vocals.

Also, when they were promoting romance, they performed at Primavera Festival in Barcelona, which gained attention for during their performance, they displayed the Palestinian flag on the screen.

Yeah.

I feel like the last album, Romance, it definitely seemed on the outside, like aesthetically with the styling of them and the artwork.

It seemed very kind of considered.

And like they were trying to make a statement with it in terms of removing themselves from the sounds of the albums before.

Whatever This Is band.

It's a follow-up to their 2024 album Romance, which I predicted would turn Fontaine's DC into one of the biggest indie bands of their generation and would see them sit fully atop of a scene that happened seven, eight years ago that kicked off big time, really, in the mainstream about seven, eight years ago that featured the likes of Idols, Black Hunter, New Road, Black Midi, Yard Act.

Wet Leg? Would you put Wet Leg in there as well? Probably a little bit.

But anyway, all the rest of those sort of things that happened.

So for me, that was an album that showcased a greater deal of maturity and something quite different from what they've been doing before.

But I think it's a brilliant, brilliant album.

And then Romance turned up.

and Romance was probably the biggest stylistic leap that they had made as a band thus far in their career for me that is a cool album that managed to mix sort of Depeche Mode acoustic indie rock kind of Billy Bragg-esque folk tunes kind of industrialized cold chrome post-punk and lest we forget my favorite thing of all nu metal the sound and the look not just of corn who they name checked quite a lot in the build-up to that album which i enjoyed very very much but head pe pod orgy snot like actual nu metal and deftones as well obviously um And I found that really, really exciting and really interesting.

Their, their first record, Dogrel, I remember coming out and not really feeling it at all, and kind of dismissing them on the basis of that record.

And not really paying attention to this band really until five years later when they put out their record, Romance, in 2024.

And I remember this being an album that a lot of people who listened to the show reached out and said, "You ought to give this band another chance." Like, "This band's really grown.

They've evolved." And sure enough, I'd listened to Romance, and I think you had a similar sit- uh, experience.

This was the record that kind of brought me into the fold.

Uh, and it really showed how much they had evolved, uh, from that more kind of meat and potatoes post-punk to a sound that was much more widescreen and experimental, not quite as guitar based.

Uh, I have often made the analogy to Achtung Baby-era U2, which is maybe an obvious comparison to make because it's another Irish band.

But I think there is a similar progression from, you know, U2 started as a post-punk band, and then they kind of became more of this, um, you know, colorful band that would, like, dress like rock stars, wear sunglasses, wear, like, crazy clothes.

[gasps] I love that song, love the video as well.

But it was really experimental, it was unconventional, and, uh, it was, it was basically the first teaser for Romance.

Yeah.

And they said, "We've arrived, lads."

Mm.

And I think, like the roots of their Irish identity sprinkling throughout all of their albums and will be, you know, a core part of their identity going forward.

I think the, the individualistic stamp of Romance will actually carry through their albums from now on as well, because you can even see it in Dopamine Chamber.

The influence of Romance is still there with the pink cover-

The band's next tour has them in stadiums and arenas, and the one guest on Dopamine Chamber is pop's universal It girl, the Spanish singer Rosalía.

The 2024 album Romance took Fontaines to another level, earning them two Grammy nominations and their best sales ever with hits like the sweet and earnest Favorite.

Following it up, Fontaines didn't take the easy way.

Instead, they explored new sounds, leaning into electronics and creating a captivating sonic travelogue that somehow connects the decadent beauty of old Europe with the narcotic ethereality of cyberspace.

Yeah

...

Romance and this one.

Um, one, uh, you contributed two tracks to the Help To record, which is a record I absolutely love.