Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. Photo: Simon Wheatley
After years of trying to throw their sound "50 miles down the road", Irish post-punk rockers Fontaines D.C. have crashed through a new sonic frontier on their fourth album Romance.
Guitarist Conor Curley told Music 101's Charlotte Ryan that taking time off for the first time ever led the band into a more fluid and collaborative process.
"We all put our heads together to work on Romance so that was cool," he said.
The songwriting process was all about "trying to gather and arrange emotions to be as effective as possible", he said.
"Always having a song that I'm writing in my head gives me a certain kind of sanity."
Fontaines D.C: ‘Romance lives between light and dark’
Before Fontaines D.C's success, Curley and his bandmates had to get jobs and go back to their "old life" when not touring.
But after touring the 2022 album Skinty Fia, he was able to "root" himself in a new, more settled life in London for the first time since the band started.
"I was in my apartment like 'What does time off look like for me? What is it that I want to do?'"
Working on music and production at his "little shoebox studio" four or five days a week was Curley's answer.
Although he was not working on a solo project, he also did not think what he was exploring would become Fontaines D.C. "band music".
"I was just working on it to be creative and try and flex that creative muscle."
At the same time, Curley's bandmates were also investigating their independent musical tastes and creativity.
When it came time to record Romance, they went through all of the individual demos together in a new process that felt more fluid and "up for grabs" than on earlier albums, he said.
After spending four weeks together in a North London studio and then two days off, Fontaines D.C. found themselves in a French chateau, working for the first time with English James Ford.
It was a "strange time" getting to know a new producer while also working on an especially intimate new album, Curley said.
"There was a lot of anxiety and nerves going around our camp but by the end of it, it was a very creative experience."
The cover of Romance - a 2024 album by Irish band Fontaines D.C. Photo: Supplied
While every other Fontaines D.C. record was titled after all of the songs were written, singer Grian Chatten came up with the name Romance when its songs were "just ideas floating around", Curley said.
The essential duality of romance, which was in the back of all of the bandmates' heads while recording the album, served as their "trajectory".
"Although at first glance, the feelings that [romance] gives you are positive and about devotion, when you flip it on its head you can think of romance as being crazy and obsessive, maybe not good for that person.
"It's like romance is a place because it lives between a light and dark that you create with the music around them."
Curley said he was now looking forward to handing Romance over to the world.
"I'm excited for these songs to live out there and for people to have their own individual favourites."
He was also enthusiastic about returning to New Zealand "next year at some stage" after the band had an amazing time tripping around the country while here for the 2023 Laneway Festival.
"We had such a great time when we were over that side. All the people over that side of the world were so nice."