Fontaines D.C. are continuing to tease new music with a Stanley Kubrick-inspired clip ahead of their new album ‘Romance’.
The Irish post-punk group started to hint at new music last week with a 30-second clip in which frontman Grian Chatten is seen topless and in bright green trousers, with a black, swollen eye and heavy cuts and bruises all over. He is petting a pig, while the mystery song plays over the top.
Now, they’ve followed that clip with a new 90-second visualiser that takes inspiration from Kubrick’s The Shining. It features an empty hallway with two small brown armchairs sitting opposite each other, adjacent from an orange set of elevator doors in a clear nod to the iconic 1980 film. However, where in the film the doors open to reveal a river of blood, Fontaines’ clip uses green gunge pouring out of the doors instead.
The song playing the background begins eerie and slow, over which Chatten sings: “Into the darkness again / In with the pigs in the pen / God knows I love you / Screws in my head /nI will be beside you till you’re dead.” As the music swells and becomes more intense, the neon green gunge gushes out of the doors.
Check out the ‘Romance’ teaser below:
‘Romance’ will mark Fontaines D.C.’s first original music since their third album, 2022’s ‘Skinty Fia’. Since then, they’ve also covered Nick Drake’s ‘Cello Song’ for a compilation album.
In December, the band teamed up with Massive Attack and Young Fathers to release a limited edition 12” single to support Médecins Sans Frontières in their relief efforts in Gaza.
“Fontaines DC join millions across the world in demanding an immediate ceasefire and a permanent end to Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine,” they wrote at the time.
“Since October, Doctors Without Borders have been on the ground in Gaza, where every human is an IDF target, risking their lives to give vital care to the thousands injured by Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on the starving and defenceless. We feel utterly helpless in what we can do at this point, however we do hope our small contribution to this record can raise some desperately needed funds for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza. Ceasefire Now. Free Palestine.”
Chatten opened up in an interview with NME last year about suffering mental health issues while touring, revealing he previously experienced “fits of anxiety and rage”.
The Irish musician, who released his debut solo album ‘Chaos For The Fly’ last summer, reflected on how his attitude to touring has evolved over the years.
“Around ‘A Hero’s Death’, I was really struggling to reshape myself to fit this new kind of lifestyle, and I was dealing with fatigue… and mental illness; the depression that occurred,” he explained.
“The anxiety was pretty intense as well. I was just sick of not fucking living anywhere for five years. I didn’t even think about the fact that half a decade had passed without me feeling like I belonged anywhere outside of a tour bus.”