Dublin calling

Fontaines DC – Skinty Fia

Now living in London, postpunks Fontaines DC pay tribute to their Irish roots on their third album, ‘Skinty Fia’.

‘Ar gCroithe go deo’, which opens the album, translates as “In our hearts forever” and tells the story of Irish woman Margaret Keane, who lived in Coventry.

When she died her family wanted to commemorate her Irish heritage, but the Church of England blocked them from using those words on her gravestone.

This took place just a few years ago, and this tension between Irish pride and the sense of displacement that comes with living abroad saturates ‘Skinty Fia’.

Musically, this is their most freewheeling album yet.

Its first single, ‘Jackie Down The Line’, is a moody blast of jangling guitars, grunge-y drums and the malevolent vocals of frontman Grian Chatten (right).

Meanwhile, ‘I Love You’ is a warped love letter drawing on The Cure and written from the perspective of a co nflicted Irishman abroad.

The band have alluded to national identity before – ‘Boys In The Better Land’ from 2019 debut ‘Dogrel’ is s elf-explanatoy. r And ‘I Was Not Born’ on sophomore album ‘A Hero’s Death’ is a straightforward rejection of a classdriven society.

However, ‘Skinty Fia’ could be described as the band’s first political record, but only in the sense that their very identity in London is political – they have spoken about feeling like outsiders.

The song ‘Big Shot’ is about guitarist Carlos O’Connell’s struggles with their newfound fame and a rollicking yet sensitive account of internal conflict.

In fact, conflict is what drives ‘Skinty Fia’ and makes it the band’s best release yet.