Fontaines D.C. have shared their existential new single ‘In The Modern World’ from their album ‘Romance‘ – watch the video below.
- READ MORE: At home with Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten: “Our personality is bigger than the sound that we make”
The new track marks the fourth single the band have released from their upcoming fourth album which is due to arrive this Friday (August 23). You can pre-order/pre-save it here. According to a press release, ‘In The Modern World’ serves as the record’s central song and was written by frontman Grain Chatten during an “inexplicable” 10-day stint alone in Los Angeles back in 2023.
Directed by Luna Carmoon, who previously shot the video for ‘Here’s The Thing‘, the video for ‘In The Modern World’ stars actor Ewan Mitchell and sees him jump into the brutal, passionate and fetishistic theatre of a Car Jitsu bout.
‘In The Modern World’ follows ‘Here’s The Thing’, ‘Favourite‘ and lead single ‘Starburster‘. Speaking to NME as part of our In Conversation series, Chatten spoke about the band’s new album, which he described as their “most expansive and full album” to date. On the process of making the album, Chatten told NME: “To be creatively understood by too many people feels like flies settling all over your clothes and all other your face. Every now and again you have to fucking shake them off, just to see who you are again. That’s what we wanted to do.
“We spoke a lot about visual references, films and stuff like that. I’m not even messing, but we used to speak about: ‘What kind of weather is it in this song?’ We could meet on a plain that didn’t have anything to do with music, arrangements or instruments. It’s more about abstractly getting to the right place. I think it’s more interesting to work in that way because you’re at less danger of sounding contrived or unoriginal.”
He went on to expand on the band’s new sound, and on comparisons to KoRn and ‘cyberpunk’, which fits in with the band’s changing, broodier aesthetic.
Chatten added: “Some of the music is exaggerated in that sense. The colours that I hear in the music are not colours that you’d find in nature. The songs sound neon and ridiculous. In order to communicate that idea thoroughly, I didn’t want to go out on stage dressed the same as I was for ‘Dogrel’ or whatever. I wanted to put the audience in the right mindset to render them sensitive to the message we were trying to convey.”
In a five star review of ‘Romance’, NME said: “Where predecessor ‘Skinty Fia’ was steadfast in communicating its central themes (from guilt and disillusionment to new beginnings), ‘Romance’ takes its time unravelling.
“Part glowing love song, part troubled revelation, ‘In The Modern World’ foregrounds dystopian imagery against a muted hallucinatory haze. A desperate, self-lacerating urge to destroy is wrapped up in some futuristic sheen on ‘Starburster’: “I wanna take the truth without a lens on it / My God-given insanity, it depends on it,” Chatten spits breathlessly, as though he’s a single chord change away from melting down entirely.”
In other news, Fontaines D.C. will perform on the main stage at Reading & Leeds 2024, which they will warm up for at an intimate show in London’s Electric Ballroom on Thursday (August 22). This will be followed by their 2024 UK and Ireland headline tour, which is set to take place in November and December. That stint includes two nights at Alexandra Palace in the capital.
That isn’t it for their live shows either, as last week the group also unveiled news of a huge outdoor show at London’s Finsbury Park, due to take place on Saturday July 5, 2025. It will mark the Irish band’s biggest headline performance to date, with support coming from Amyl And The Sniffers and Kneecap.
Find a full list of upcoming tour dates below, and visit here for any remaining tickets.
Fontaines D.C.’s upcoming UK and Ireland headline dates are:
NOVEMBER 2024
20 – The Halls, Wolverhampton
22 – Alexandra Palace, London
23 – Alexandra Palace, London
24 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
26 – Pavilions, Plymouth
27 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
29 – Aviva Studios, Manchester
30 – Aviva Studios, Manchester
DECEMBER 2024
1 – Aviva Studios, Manchester
3 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
4 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
6 – 3Arena, Dublin
7 – 3Arena, Dublin
JULY 2025
5 – Finsbury Park, London
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