Fontaines D.C.

Skinty Fia [Partisan Records]

Having evolved over the course of the past five years from hometown heroes to international headliners, the third record from Fontaines D.C. finds the band thoughtfully contemplating their Irish identity and the residual guilt that haunts the Dublin quintet for leaving home to embark on their current path to glory.

Skinty Fia (translation: ‘’the damnation of the deer’’) ties itself up with heavy themes of doubt, loss and disconnection but Fontaines have never sounded more assured. Retaining the dark atmospherics introduced on A Hero’s Death (evidenced on stirring opener In ár gCroíthe go deo) while never forgoing Dogrel’s penchant for sweeping, stadium sized guitar lines (Big Shot, Roman Holiday) and hypnotic vocal hooks (Jackie Down The Line, I Love You); Skinty Fia fleshes out the foundations of Fontaines’ signature sound while developing a richer instrumental palette and sharper production values, unveiling itself as the natural culmination of an evolutionary trio of albums.

Lyrically, Grian Chatten is a revelation throughout, ascending to new heights with a level of romanticism and poetry only hinted at previously, never more so than on The Couple Across The Way. Accompanied by a lone accordion, Chatten is earnest and affecting on one of the best songs of the band’s young career.

This feels like what Fontaines have been striving toward since day one, a bewitching mix of maudlin melody and murky poetry that defined the classic eighties post-punk from which the band descended. On Skinty Fia, Fontaines write longingly of home while truly arriving on the international stage with their most accomplished work yet.