Few bands have captured the same excitement for rock as well as Fontaines DC do on “Dogrel”.
At its heart, Fontaines DC’s debut is about a city losing its spirit to gentrification, an attempt to document Dublin’s culture and character before the times plaster over the craic and move on.
With that romantic goal in mind, Dogrel is full of literate lyrical sketches. Frontman Grian Chatten’s drawled pub poetry captures Irish Republican cabbies (“He spits out ‘Brits out’ only smokes Carrolls”) as easily as the emptiness of capitalist pursuits (“Money is the sandpit of the soul”) and the band colour it all with raucous post-punk and garage rock.
Fontaines DC are a cracking new band from Ireland who’ve really excited me this year. Their debut LP Dogrel is full of intense, dynamic, rocket fuelled post-punk. It sounds inquisitive and passionate, like a band with a deep love of musicianship still exploring the edges of their sound.
Fontaines DC also love poetry and sing about James Joyce, which feels very romantic, especially since many of their songs are about life in Dublin. It’s thrilling, gritty rock from a band with infinite possibilities ahead of them. The result is universal, despite the record being as intrinsically linked to its hometown as a gold harp on a pint glass.
‘Sha Sha Sha’ is taken from the debut LP ‘Dogrel’ by Fontaines D.C. Out now on Partisan Records –
The Fat Angel Sings 