Fontaines D.C. put out their fifth album, Dopamine Chamber, on Friday through XL Recordings. The record follows 2024’s Romance.
Frontman Grian Chatten said the album is about phones and how people take in news and pleasure. “It is quite grotesque, being able to self-prescribe dopamine through your phone,” Chatten said to The Irish News.
He said the band left hope out on purpose. “Give me something to hope for, and then I’ll write that album. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning,” he said. He described Romance as “maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation,” and said the new album feels “more like 60 per cent corrupted.”
Bassist Conor Deegan said the band’s albums have long asked questions about a sense of place. “On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?” Deegan said. Guitarist Conor Curley said the group picked up where Romance left off. They kept live-band parts for the moments that called for them.
The band leans on synthesizers, drum machines, and effects more than it did on past records. Uncut pointed out that James Ford also plays several analog synths. They added that the band wrote around 40 songs for the album.
The Dublin band took shape after its members met at college. Chatten, Deegan, Curley, drummer Tom Coll, and guitarist Carlos O’Connell make up the five-piece. Their 2022 album Skinty Fia came before Romance, a hit in the UK and Ireland.
Uncut reports that the band has released an album every two years since A Hero’s Death, and each one climbed near the top of the UK chart. Sabrina Carpenter kept Romance from No. 1, according to Live4ever.
Fontaines D.C. has tour dates lined up until October 2027. They’re all listed on the band’s official website.
