Fontaines D.C. live at London’s Kentish Town Forum (Sam Huddleston / Live4ever)
Its remote location may explain why the city of Dublin hosts some of the most individual and compulsive new music, its bands creating sounds of an entirely different energy, pace and attitude.
Fontaines D.C. are already one of the city’s most distinguishable bands, and with their name spreading rapidly – like rings on the water – there is good reason to consider all the hype is justified. Tonight (30 Nov) documents that.
In an interview with Fontaines D.C. due out very soon, the band tell Live4ever that they are all about being true, and see poetry as having that quality. Poetry was what brought the members together and made them connect. Creating a space where things feel just right is key to the band and that idea really does shine through their performance.
There’s a hypnotic element deeply embedded in their music. It is not instantly noticeable or clearly traceable but it will be apparent to the attentive listener, to some it may remain subconscious. Either way, it draws the listener in and might explain why frontman Grian Chatten doesn’t, in fact, do chit-chat, or any talk, at all during the set. Is the assumption that talking disrupts any cohesion, the sense of there being a natural flow? Once that idea manifests itself, it becomes impossible to shake off.
The Chuck Berry-style guitar riff of Chequeless Reckless and its jumpy energy is a suitable opening. Dressed in a leather jacket, a light-blue shirt and chords, Grian delivers focused and well-channelled energy in pure, concentrated form. This is followed by Big, which has a gripping, intense energy and, coupled with its staccato-style drumbeat, has an in-your-face vibe about it.
Quiet at the start of the set maybe, but by song number three – Sha Sha Sha – the main area in front of the stage is packed, and there is anticipation in abundance. The hypnotic, dream-like, spoken-word-ridden new single Too Real has strong, captivating effects, clearly no escape, nowhere else to be but here. That sense of being transfixed remains evident throughout the set – even during the lighter sounds of Liberty Belle and Boys In the Better Land. And with Hurricane Laughter, the circle of poetry, melody and pulsating rhythm is brought to completion, even when it’s unwanted.
There’s a beguiling complexity about their complete grasp of how to write the best melodies, coupled with an all-consuming, inescapable, rhythmic depth, because the drumming is that good and permeates every song in remarkable ways. The significance of Fontaines D.C.’s music is one that reaches beyond punk rock – tagging their music in such a way is not only limiting, but also inaccurate.
There is too much nuance, sensitivity and versatility for it to be narrowed down. But if this is punk rock, at least attach the word eclectic next to it: eclectic punk rock, done the Irish way.
