Fontaines D.C.: Romance

I thought Fontaines D.C. were a punk band. Or a post-punk band. But then I knew they weren’t. And now, on Romance, they are something all together different. But somehow not surprisingly so. This isn’t their French disco experimentation. It’s not them going electronica. Or whatever that genre is called in 2024. No, this is the natural inclination of the band, an evolution of something that in retrospect should have seemed obvious.

Romance starts with what feels like Cure worship. Post-punk, sure, but in the goth rock tradition. Gloomy and brooding. Post-apocalyptic, but weary. And then it kicks into what is easily the best and most dynamic song they’ve ever put out, “Starburster.” Produced to within an inch of its life, its sing-song rapid fire delivery makes you want to simultaneously breakdance and break stuff. It is, in the truest sense of the word, a fuckin’ banger. It’s as if someone took a Menomena song and knocked all the music nerdiness out of it. It makes you want to stroll down the ave throwing cash in the air and stuffing dirty water dogs in your mouth as people cheer your don’t-give-a-fuckness. Even the lovely breakdown in the middle of the song feels like a temporary coda to the fight.

And then the album is the album. Not that it’s not good, but it never reaches anything close to the heights of “Starburster.” Nor does it really try to, as it oscillates between some version of Gene Loves Jezebel, Love and Rockets, The Smashing Pumpkins and Oasis. A kind of ethereal manifestation of what we have to assume they feel like modern love sounds like. An echoey palace of rising string synths, acoustic guitars and building background choruses of disembodied voices and loops. And that Irish accent that makes all the constant rhymes sound not quite right in the best possible way.

So, is it punk? Absolutely not. Does it feel like a cohesive album that really hangs together well? Indeed. I do feel like Billy Corgan would hear this and think perhaps he wrote it under the influence of Guinness and mushrooms. The songs do seem to morph as they go along, which is cool. It’s like if you don’t like the beginning, stick around for 90 seconds and the song will give you something different and interesting. And then the record ends with “Favorite.” Which is a little bit their “Shiny Happy People.” But is also apparently the favorite song of a lot of fans. A straight up catchy pop song in the Paul Westerberg tradition. Rock but not rock. Simple but not simple. And probably a good indication of where the next Fontaines D.C. album will be headed.