Fontaines D.C. stayed quiet through 2021, but the Dublin rock band will be back with their third album, Skinty Fia, on Friday, 22nd April. The upcoming album is preceded by the single ‘Jackie Down the Line’, the band’s first new release since their Grammy-nominated 2020 LP, A Hero’s Death.
The band shared a statement alongside the album announcement, writing “This is Skinty Fia. The album we’ve been waiting to share with you for pretty much a year. Sorry it’s not disco, we lied. It’s an album of terrible lows and even worse highs.”
‘Jackie Down the Line’ ticks all the boxes we’ve come to expect from a Fontaines D.C. track: singer Grian Chatten’s Irish brogue is as charming as ever; the band’s post-punk arrangements split the different between order and chaos. There’s also an even measure of lyrical pessimism.
“I will hurt you, I’ll desert you,” sings Chatten in the chorus. Later he asks, “What good is happiness to me, if I’ve to wield it carefully?”
In contrast to these lyrics, Fontaines D.C.’s career has been on the up and up since releasing their debut album, Dogrel, in April 2019. They followed up with A Hero’s Death in July 2020, which received Grammy and Brit Award nominations and topped many critics’ year-end lists.
Take a look at the Hugh Mulhern-directed video for ‘Jackie Down the Line’.
