“That was the year of the sneer, now the real thing’s here.”
Not all too long ago, the desperate cries of “is it too real for ya?” from Fontaines D.C. were pervading every corner of our cherished punk scene. Now a mere requiem for their debut LP of last year, the Irish post-punk band have since tussled with the onset of fame and fortune - looking to counteract with a moodier, sibling sophomore LP, A Hero’s Death. On the surface, this latest set of music bears the myriad fruits of influences, yet underneath seeps only bitter juices rather than a ripened reckoning.
The Beach Boys, Beach House, and Suicide were all cast under the umbrella of influences on this latest project, however, barely passing the first track of the record ‘I Don’t Belong’ seems to instead mask itself more as an ode to Oasis or The Verve. Elongated vocal lines, sustained guitar distortions tinged with tremolo and flanger effects, as well as steadily bland rhythmics trickle further into ‘Love is the Main thing’ and ‘A Lucid Dream’, divulging this act further into a bizarre Britpop shrine more than anything else. As a coping mechanism for Fontaines' scrutinised success, Grian Chatten & Co. cozy up to a neat form of nostalgic comfortability offering little more than a slightly punkier, more poetic version of Liam Gallagher & Co. on the LP’s outset.
Their self-proclaimed version of “the real thing” at last comes to fruition on the handful of singles released, ‘A Hero’s Death’ and ‘Televised Mind’, eliciting enthusiastic tempos and self-righteous lyricism quelling the burdens of 2019’s onslaught on the band. What’s more, the aforementioned fruits of influence make themselves known here, too, as the delicate “ooh”s and “aah”s a-la The Beach Boys stoke the ever-swelling embers of refined post-punk - offering a much-needed dosage of Fontaines’ experimental prowess.
A darker plunge into the tumultuous mind of frontman Grian Chatten sees a further breach into the wider sounds of punk. Notably the Suicide tendencies amongst ‘Living in America’ - worn heavily with a longer, lower vocal register and slight metallic facade to the clamouring guitar riffs. Yet, when given the opportunity to release the pressure valve of punk's temerity, Fontaines simmer down. Perhaps reticent toward these dusty crevices, the act reverts to calmer tropes thereafter.
The LP concludes on a rather flat finale which bypasses the crafty hands of producer Dan Carey. Overblown, bassy drums of ‘I Was Not Born’ and the unnerving faintness of guitar distortions obscuring the LP’s concluder ‘No’, fails to end this record on a pertinently uplifting note compared to their debut’s concluder ‘Dublin City Sky’. As they bade farewell to their beloved hometown this time last year, here Chatten recedes to a dreary note of resignation after 46 minutes: “just appreciate the grey”.
For all of the welcomed (and duly deserved) attention which flooded the band over the past year, Fontaines D.C. have followed-up with a wearied response on A Hero’s Death. Whilst the podium had been neatly arranged for a more illustrious breach of punk, utilised effectively by their cohorts Protomartyr and Idles recently, Fontaines instead tends to the overgrown garden of Britpop and post-grunge rather than the promising patch of post-punk’s resurgence. Where their debut proved pertinent for the Dublin band, their product of the “the real thing” lays comfortably in the water, bobbing along the River Liffey.
5.5/10
Fontaines D.C.'s latest LP, A Hero's Death, is out now and can be found here.
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