Fontaines DC: Romance review – their best record yet

Not since Arctic Monkeys has an A-list indie band’s sound evolved as quickly as that of Dublin-raised, London-based five-piece Fontaines DC – from the raw, post-punk stylings of 2019 debut Dogrel to the rich and expansive palette of this fourth album. Along the way, their inspirations have become progressively less parochial, the fixation on their home city giving way to tales of the Irish diaspora on 2022’s Skinty Fia, and now Romance, on which they truly transcend mere nationality.

It’s a hugely impressive record that brims over with highlights, Grian Chatten’s always intriguing lyrics (“I don’t feel anything in the modern world/ And I don’t feel bad”) further enhanced by consistently imaginative arrangements. Starburster and Here’s the Thing have an irresistible directness – songs that appeal to the hips just as much as the brain. Favourite is their prettiest song to date, falling somewhere between Felt and the Cure and built on a beautiful guitar line.

The band are just as potent when the intensity drops a notch, as on the plaintive Horseness Is the Whatness. Their most outward-looking, most complete, most rewarding album to date.