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As a person of a certain age, you notice some things. One is that specific music ideas and styles get recycled from time to time, but I guess that’s been true for a while. You hear bands that lean pretty heavily on ones that made their mark a decade or two earlier, and to young people just hearing them it all sounds so fresh and unique. Thankfully, Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. have managed to extract some of the best aspects of the post-punk era yet entirely bring their own personality and sound very much forward. Bands like The Cure and Killing Joke are certainly present as you chip into a couple of their layers, as well as lesser heralded bands such as Whipping Boy or This Petrol Emotion.
The most important lesson they’ve gleaned along the way is that sonics, tone and texture can only go so far, and the underpinnings of a great melody can take the song from being OK to being revelatory. “The Boys In The Better Land” was their early shout-a-long but they’ve been finely honing the edge of their creativity; “Jackie Down The Line” and “I Love You” were the standouts from Skinty Fia and have survived the ruthless process of the set list cut that happens as bands add to their discography. (Sadly, “The Lotts” and “I Don’t Belong” fell victim to the cull).
This year’s Romance will find Grian Chatten and the band having to make harder decisions in the future. Romance is filled with bangers and the band had plenty of fun playing them, eight of the eleven in total. “Death Kink,” “Bug,” and “Here’s The Thing” anchored the middle part of the set where sometimes momentum drifts and fades away. Not tonight.
Chatten’s vocals are seemingly the limiting factor of the songs; not the tone but his range tends to be fairly tight. Not tight enough to fall into monotony but somehow he and Joe Talbot of IDLES have managed to turn that into a strength. Songs like “Favourite” and “Starburster” aren’t complex creations but that works in their favor, instantly transforming into songs that because a sing-a-long with the entire building. I was a tiny bit apprehensive when Chatten released a solo record last year, as that’s not the greatest sign of band vitality after only three records, but I don’t see any signs of Fontaines D.C. stumbling any time soon.
Been Stellar is the band name one comes up with after a day of smoking and drinking, a pun that sounds funny at first glance but does it have the legs to survive a couple years on? I guess we’ll see. On the bright side, the quintet has managed to pull together threads of shoegaze and 90s alt-rock that was surprisingly powerful when delivered from the stage. At first I thought I’d heard a bit of Slowdive in their sound, but live it was more like Smashing Orange, a pretty strong undertow of guitar distortion for Sam Slocum’s laconic vocals. My interest was piqued.
