After the explosive cult-following-generating success of their debut album Dogrel from last year, Ireland’s Fontaines D.C. have announced their quick return with a new album called A Hero’s Death, which is due on July 31. They’ve shared the title track “A Hero’s Death”, about which Singer Grian Chatten says:
“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. There’s this balance between sincerity and insincerity as the song goes on and you see that in the music video as well. That’s why there’s a lot of shifting from major key to minor key. The idea was influenced by a lot of the advertising I was seeing – the repetitive nature of these uplifting messages that take on a surreal and scary feel the more you see them.
The repeated mantra of “life ain’t always empty” over Fonatines’ choppy post-punk seems particularly timely right now, as we’re all scrambling to re-position ourselves in the world. As Chatten says, this simple phrase seems to take on different moods with each repetition, and “A Hero’s Death” turns into a meditative rocker, while also staying true to the band’s usual wry-yet-chipper attitude.
The video for “A Hero’s Death” stars Aidan Gillen, aka Littlefinger aka Tommy Carcetti aka so many other roles.
Fonatines D.C.’s new album A Hero’s Death is out on July 31 via Partisan, with plans for touring coming soon.
