Last month, Fontaines D.C. announced their third album, Skinty Fia – to be released on April 22nd on Partisan Records. The news was soon followed by a performance of first single “Jackie Down The Line” on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, as the band debuted the track live for the very first time. Now, the band has released their second song, “I Love You,” taken from the highly anticipated new album.
Ostensibly a love song, “I Love You” is layered, impressionistic and infused with the band’s trademark intensity. Stitched into the apparently ardent lyrics is a lament for Ireland, in what Fontaines D.C frontman Grian Chatten describes as “the first overtly political song we’ve written.” Written from the perspective of an Irishman abroad, the song unravels to reveal a passionate sense of self-loathing. The lyrics detail the guilt of a barroom reveler, enjoying great personal success and a sense of cultural pride, while simultaneously metabolizing deep disappointment, and swirling anger, at the current political climate as well as the country’s grimmest historical atrocities, such as the decades of tragic brutality at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home in Galway: “This island’s run by sharks with children’s bones stuck in their jaws.”
The cinematic music video, directed by Sam Taylor, captures the song’s building intensity; Grian strolls through a serene, candle-lit church before intensely delivering the song’s second half directly to camera with characteristic gravity. He elaborates, “It’s standing in the center of our beloved home country as a multitude of things are brought to tragic ends in an apocalyptic state of affairs. That’s how it feels to me, and what I felt when I wrote it.”
Fontaines D.C recently announced a North American tour, their first since they toured in support of their acclaimed 2019 debut Dogrel. The band’s show at Brooklyn Steel on April 26th has sold out. An additional date has been added for April 27th. All dates below.
Skinty Fia is an Irish phrase which translates to English as “the damnation of the deer” and the album’s cover art features a deer, plucked from its natural habitat and deposited in the hallway of a home, illuminated by an artificial red glow. The Irish giant deer is an extinct species and the band’s thoughts on Irish identity are central to Skinty Fia. For a band whose hometown courses through their veins – “D.C.” stands for “Dublin City” – the album finds them trying to resolve the need to broaden their horizons with the affection they still feel for the land and people they’ve left behind following a recent relocation to London.
There are echoes of Dogrel’s rumbustious rock ’n’ roll, and the bleaker atmospheres of A Hero’s Death, but Skinty Fia, the third in the triumvirate, is much more expansive and cinematic. Fontaines D.C. are a band in a state of constant evolution and this time the result is an album of shifting moods, startling insight, maturity, and considerable emotional wallop.
Fontaines D.C. on Tour:
*denotes newly added date
MARCH 2022
Sun-Mar-20 Madrid, Spain @ La Riviera
Mon-Mar-21 Barcelona, Spain @ Razzmatazz 3
Wed-Mar-23 Milan, Italy @ Magazzini Generali [SOLD OUT]
Thu-Mar-24 Zürich, Switzerland @ Dynamo
Fri-Mar-25 Dudingen, Switzerland @ Bad Bonn
Sun-Mar-27 Prague, Czech Republic @ Roxy
Mon-Mar-28 Brno, Czech Republic @ Fleda
Wed-Mar-30 Malmo, Sweden @ Plan B
Thu-Mar-31 Stockholm, Sweden @ Debaser
APRIL 2022
Fri-Apr-1 Oslo, Norway @ Vulkan Arena
Sat-Apr-2 Denmark, Copenhagen @ VEGA
Mon-Apr-4 Nikmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje
Tue-Apr-5 Maastricht, Netherlands @ Muziekgieterij
Wed-Apr-6 Utrecht, Netherlands @ Tivoli Vredenburg [SOLD OUT]
Fri-Apr-8 Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix [SOLD OUT]
Sat-Apr-9 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Den Atelier
Sun-Apr-10 Lille, France @ L’Aéronef
Mon-Apr-11 Paris, France @ Olympia [SOLD OUT]
Thu-Apr-21 Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
Fri-Apr-22 Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts [SOLD OUT]
Sat-Apr-23 Asbury Park, NJ @ Wonder Bar [SOLD OUT]
Mon-Apr-25 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Tues-Apr-26 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel [SOLD OUT]
Wed-Apr-27 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel *
Fri-Apr-29 Columbus, OH @ The A&R Music Bar
Sat-Apr-30 Cleveland, OH @ The Beachland Ballroom
MAY 2022
Mon-May-2 Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
Tue-May-3 Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix
Thu-May-5 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
Fri-May-6 Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre
Sat-May-7 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Mon-May-9 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre [venue upgrade]
Tue-May-10 Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell
Thu-May-12 Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Fri-May-13 Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre [SOLD OUT]
Sat-May-14 Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
Mon-May-16 San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
Wed-May-18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater [SOLD OUT]
Thurs-May-19 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
JUNE 2022
Fri-June-3 Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound
Mon-June-6 Lyon, France @ Le Transbordeur
Tue-June-7 Bologna, Italy @ Arena Puccini
Wed-June-8 Milan, Italy @ Un Altro Festival
Fri-June-10 Neuchâtel, Switzerland @ Festi’ Neuch
Sat-June-11 Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands @ Best Kept Secret Festival
Sun-June-12 Berlin, Germany @ Templehof Sounds
Mon-Jun-13 Warsaw, Poland @ Proxima
Wed-June-15 Athens, Greece @ Release Festival with Nick Cave
Fri-June-17 Scheeßel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival
Sat-June-18 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany @ Southside Festival
Mon-June-20 Zagreb, Croatia @ InMusic Festival
Wed-June-29 Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival
Thur-June-30 Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter
JULY 2022
Sat-Jul-2 Dublin, Ireland @ Iveagh Gardens [SOLD OUT]
Sun-Jul-3 Dublin, Ireland @ Iveagh Gardens [SOLD OUT]
Wed-Jul-6 Lisbon, Portugal @ NOS Alive Festival
Sat-Jul-8 Lytham St. Anne’s, United Kingdom @ Lytham festival
Sun-Jul-9 Glasgow, United Kingdom @ TRNSMT
Thur-Jul-14 Carhaix, France @ Les Vieilles Charrues
Fri-Jul-15 London, United Kingdom @ Finsbury Park with Sam Fender
Sun-Jul-17 Cologne, Germany @ Live Music Hall
Mon-Jul-18 Munich, Germany @ Neue Theaterfabrik
Wed-Jul-20 Berlin, Germany @ Astra Kulturhaus [SOLD OUT]
Thur-Jul-21 Hamburg, Germany @ Gruenspan [SOLD OUT]
Sun-Jul-24 Wiesbaden, Germany @ Schlachthof
AUGUST 2022
Thur-Aug-11 Oslo, Norway @ Oya Festival
Sat-Aug-13 Helsinki, Finland @ Flow Festival
Mon-Aug-15 Budapest, Hungary @ Sziget Festival
Tue-Aug-16 Padova, Italy @ Parco Della Musica
Fri-Aug 19 Guéret – Saint-Laurent Aerodrome, France @ Check In Party
Sat-Aug-20 Charleville-Mézières, France @ Le Cabaret Vert
Tue-Aug-23 Stuttgart, Germany @ Longhorn
Thur-Aug-25 Paris, France @ Rock En Seine
Sat-Aug-27 Reading, United Kingdom @ Reading Festival
Sun-Aug-28 Leeds, United Kingdom @ Leeds Festival
SEPTEMBER 2022
Sat-Sep-16 Los Angeles, CA @ Primavera Sound
FEBRUARY 2023
Wed-Feb-1 Sydney, Australia @ Roundhouse
Thur-Feb-2 Brisbane, Australia @The Triffid
Tue-Feb-7 Melbourne, Australia @ Corner Hotel
Wed-Feb-8 Melbourne, Australia @ The Forum