Fontaines DC release third album “Skinty Fia”

Fontaines DC are a band on a musical journey and on the rise. They releaeed their debut album “Dogrel” in 2019 to critical acclaim and followed this up with 2020’s “A Heroes Death”. Following the earthy raw style of “Dogrel” some fans didn’t take to the new album, but we reviewed it in July 2020 and gave it a 9.5 It felt to us like a band, growing and exploring their sonic style and it was a wonderful evolution.

Well now, two years later we have the third entry in their travel journal with the release tomorrow of “Skinty Fia” which translates to “the damnation of the deer.” A suitably mystical name you think ? Well as bassist Conor Deegan explains it is a reference to the extinct Irish giant deer, but is also

used as an expletive, in the way you’d say ‘For fuck’s sake’ if you bang your arm on a table !!!!! Conor goes on to say that “We just thought there was something really beautiful about that, because it’s really representative of Irish culture in some sense. We were interested in the idea of something really precious or sentimental and attached to family, but also something that’s been taken away from us. Which doesn’t mean we can’t cherish it.”

The band’s thoughts on Irish identity are crucial to ‘Skinty Fia’. 2019’s ‘Dogrel’ was mostly set in Dublin and was littered with snapshots of the city’s characters, like the cabbie in “Boys In The Better Land” who “spits out ‘Brits out!’, only smokes Carroll’s”. By contrast, their markedly different 2020 follow-up ‘A Hero’s Death’ was largely written on tour and documented the dislocation and disconnection the band felt from Ireland as they had new adventures around the globe.

This time, they’re addressing their Irishness from afar as they build new lives for themselves elsewhere and try to resolve the need to broaden their horizons with the affection they still clearly feel for the land and people they’ve left behind. “It’s about being Irish and expressing that in London, and what can you take with you that makes you feel connected to home,” Conor explains. “We really tried to hold on to the things that made us Irish. There’s a sentimentality of sitting in an Irish pub in London, surrounded by other Irish people and it’s 4am, the lights are going off and half-remembering these old songs. On the other hand, there’s something dark and a little bit bleak about that.”

The album’s opening track In ár gCroíthe go deo (which translates as “In Our Hearts Forever”), immediately shows the development the band have been on with an assured presence. A fast pulsing bassline underpins an almost choral vocal performance before roaring to life for an impressive ending. It really sets the feel for the new album and adds a new, almost cinematic, or religious tone to it. A very impressive start.

Big Shot feels like it links back to “A Heroes Death” in it’s style, written by guitarist Carlos O’Connell with its sweeping slow guitar riff which sets a beautiful to the laid back emotional lyrics. How Cold is Love continues this feel with crisp clear guitars, with an almost monotone vocal delivery.

Next up we have the single Jackie Down the Line which sits apart from others on the album. It has a catchy infectious feel to it, despite it’s dark content and difficult subject about destructive relationships “Don’t think, We’d rhyme, I will wear you down in time, I will hurt you, I’ll desert you, I am Jackie down the line”. What I love about Fontaines DC is their ability to pack so much meaning and feeling into short and concise lyrics. A real skills that they excel at.

In contrast Bloomsday feels far more bleak with it’s slow drawn out guitar tones and lethargic vocals. The chorus almost feels like Grian Chatten’s batteries have died as the lines tail off into oblivion. It’s a haunting highlight in the middle of the album. After Roman Holiday we head into The Couple Across The Way with it’s accordion introduction, it showcases their love for a more traditional Irish folk feel to the tone. Indeed, the accordion is the sole accompaniment throughout. One that will divide but well worth the time. It tells the tale of a couple married for a long time as new neighbours move in opposite, still flush with the passion of new marriage and life together. Observationally it looks at how things have gone flat “All the mirrors face the walls and I wake just to long for bed, Love what’s got you so down low? The saddest tongue is in your head!” But juxta positioned against that, the thought that the new neighbours look at them and see their own future. It has a darkness to it, and the simple presentation is exquisite in developing the feel for this one. Totally different, and my favourite on the album.

Title track Skinty Fia is next up. There’s something about the pace and delivery at times that made me think of something like the Happy Mondays in the way it made me move as I listened. This one has a feel of a a track that will come to life on stage and be an instant classic and iconic for the band.

We slow down as a simple bassline introduces us to second single, I Love You, and again Fontaines DC aren’t afraid to deal with issues, referencing Irish political parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and their scandals and the impact on the world around them with such expressive lyrics such as “And I loved ye like a penny loves the pocket of a priest”. But all the time, expressing it in a way showing their love for their homeland.

The album ends with Nabokov which sees the album off with a dramatic almost haunting roar with Bauhaus-esque echoing twangs it is a wall of noise and lyricism to end on.

So what do we think overall ? For me, it’s an album I’ve had to take some time over. On first listening, I really wasn’t sure, perhaps in the same way some fans hated the change from “Dogrel” to “A Heroes Death”. I wasn’t quite sure if I liked the change, the direction of travel.

But this is one of those albums, for me, that you have to listen to a few times to get it.

There is a new, richer and maturing lyrical content which demands something different from the listener. They have moved on and developed, but the links to the past are still there for you to explore. There are hints of “Dogrel” rawness, and there are also tracks that remind me of the more bleak atmosphere of “A Heroes Death”. This third album is more atmospheric and indeed cinematic in its feel to it’s predecessors. The mix of styles from almost choral (on In ár gCroíthe go deo) to a more experimental, simple vocal / instrument but harmonious positioning (on The Couple Across the Way).

The album has a maturity to it, and a sense that the band are confident in not just their own skills but their ability to push boundaries and constantly evolve.

For me, “A Heroes Death” remains their best album to date. Maybe this one will continue to grow on me and overtake it with time as I sink into it’s rich styles. A great album, and a credit to Fontaines DC. To produce three excellent albums back to back is no mean feat.

A worthy 9.0 from LiveWire. One I recommend you devote some time to getting to know…… well.

Tracklist

In ár gCroíthe go deo

Big Shot

How Cold Love Is

Jackie Down The Line

Bloomsday

Roman Holiday

The Couple Across The Way

Skinty Fia

I Love You

Nabokov