As productive as Fontaines D.C. are – having released three albums between 2019 and 2022 – their singer Grian Chatten has also found time to work on his own solo material. We get the first taste of that today with debut solo single “The Score”, about which he says:
“‘The Score’ is a heavyweight bated breath of lust. I wrote it in Madrid between an electric fan and a dying plant and I intend to keep it there. It was inspired by sugar and sunset.”
That feeling of hot-breathed intimacy is immediate when pressing play, with Chatten sighing into our ears: “When I make my move to you / You will know” over finger-picked acoustic guitar and a hovering bass throb. As the song progresses, he makes more alluring promises: “I will give you thrills and take your pain”, but then they turn mildly sinister: “I will lay you down / Like a shadow, like a stain”. A drum machine kicks in for the second verse, accompanied by violin, and he starts to pull away – above – the person he desires: “You see your heart’s been tethered to a sinking stone”. Chatten is offering feral passion, and it’s hard to turn away.
Watch the video for “The Score” below or find it on streamers.
“The Score” is out on Partisan Records.
