Words: Josh Parsonage
Fontaines D.C.’s latest effort is Grian Chatten’s most deeply personal account yet. The track is musically layered in such a way that drives you in circles around Chatten’s youth growing up in County Dublin and the many tales of childhood that have shaped his life and his person, with a clear picture of the emotional scars left visible to the listener.
Chatten opens ‘Favourite’ with a strikingly complex remark: ‘Did you know I could claim the dreamer from the dream?/Make you feel everything you’ve never seen/Yeah, its been a long, a long, a long, a long-long/You were my favourite for a long time’. The Irishman is referring to the way he uses his music to, in a personal way, comment on Irish politics. The striking element of this is a suppressed feeling of guilt, guilt for leaving Ireland and continually attempting to capture its social essence whilst being out of it for so long.
The musical makeup of the track, and even its vocal delivery, feels reminiscent of a britpop era love song which successfully delivers the contrast in Chatten’s nostalgic feelings of love for his home country alongside a loathing for its current political landscape. The love-centred imagery continues with: ‘You will see beauty give the way to something strange’, exploring the idea that physical appearance (in this case the political and social landscape of his home country) no longer matters come true love and despite the torment he feels from the current state of Ireland, that love shines through.
If something to criticise was to be found about this track, it could be said the chorus falls a little flat and lacks something to set it apart from the verses. It would benefit from Chatten utilising some of those harsh, cutthroat vocals or something from guitarists Carlos O’Connell or Conor Curley to set it out and hit home on its lyrics which continue to the same artistic degree to the verses which precede: ‘Thirty-five hours coming down/How the sun shines on new pavement/And you don’t even feel it/It’s a far cry from bed radios’.
Speaking of Carlos O’Connell, both an interlude and the outro feature his backing vocals which add an ethereal layer to the track, further cementing its sophisticated emotional depth. Said depth is equally well explored in the bridge, when those vocals which feel as though they are missing from the chorus are called upon by Chatten as he pours a little extra sauce into the passionate delivery of more poetically put together lines: ‘The misery made me another marked man/And each new day, I get another year older/Chewed into shape like a stone on the shore’. Each of these lines give the sense of long term, deep cutting emotional impact which has truly shaped Grian Chatten’s person, with the suggestion that it may have strengthened him.
‘Favourite’ follows their previous single ‘Starburster’ which took the scene by storm with blazing reviews, echoed by streaming success. The gritty punk-rock feel of ‘Starburster’ seems in absolute contrast to the moody, more emotive ‘Favourite’ so it will be exciting to how they pair together in the bands album ‘Romance’.
The bands fourth record promises to be their most adventurous and career defining piece of work yet, with legendary producer James Ford working with the Irishmen for the first time. ‘Romance’ will hit streaming platforms and record stores on August 23rd before the band head out on tour across Europe and the UK on their first arena-sized tour.
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