Fontaines D.C. unveil title-track of new album A Hero's Death

Fontaines D.C. at the SXSW 2019 Live4ever Lounge (Paul Bachmann)

Fontaines D.C. have confirmed their second studio album A Hero’s Death will be released on July 31st.

The title-track has been shared too, frontman Grian Chatten’s fervent delivery taking things up a few notches when compared to the live previews the band had been offering on recent tours. According to Chatten, it was written, ‘during a time where he felt consumed by the need to write something else to alleviate the fear that I would never be able follow up Dogrel’.

“But more broadly it’s about the battle between happiness and depression, and the trust issues that can form tied to both of those feelings,” he concludes. “The song is a list of rules for the self, they’re principles for self-prescribed happiness that can often hang by a thread. It’s ostensibly a positive message, but with repetition comes different meanings, that’s what happens to mantras when you test them over and over.”

In line with the narrative they’ve had for some time, The Beach Boys have been cited by Fontaines as a key influence on the follow-up to Dogrel.