Fontaines D.C. – Favourite Review

Turn your attention to Fontaines D.C.’s recent appearance on Jools Holland, and the fresh, fiery style of upcoming album, Romance, can be seen. First single Starburster was expanded on with visual freedom gifted by dilapidated structures and the Hootenanny Man’s seal of approval. Favourite appeared too, a spark of brilliance. The Hootennanny Man comes for all who are worthy. While we wait, we listen to what could be. Fontaines D.C. has improved tremendously since Skinty Fia and has leaned into the scratches and wails of a unique sound. Their style has boomed as a result and their music has not been left behind. Favourite is an extraordinarily warm and fluid song, an articulate showcase of holding firm to your optimism. 

Those dreamers crashing back into the real world is not the heartbreak it is so often viewed as. Being grounded while your head is in the clouds gives you a chance to work out those finer details. Favourite is a breezy track that lands just at the right time, right when the sun is unbearable and the days are slowly, but surely, slipping into the glories of summer. Favourite may just be the jewel of their discography. Reflective and tonally mature understandings of the distance between our closest relatives and friends. When the backing vocals kick in and the guitar is given some room to breathe there comes a camaraderie felt only through decades of knowing another person. A kindling of the relationship with close family, closer friends or the people who have brought influence into your day regardless of meeting them or not. Grian Chatten remains a thunderbolt of lyrical quality.  

Favourite is an integral measure of Fontaines D.C. Within those light riffs and loose feelings of summer fun comes a demanding message. Sincere work from Chatten in the lyrical outlook on his upbringing and the bond between bandmates feels in touch with our expectations. These are the boys into men who have been moulded by an intense series of events. Aren’t we all? In Favourite comes the hyper-specifics of an upbringing which can be reflected on and maintained by those listening in, those who grew up opposite supermarkets on cracked roads and under the thumb of fear. New pavements are now in and with it comes the chance to break it all over again. Favourite is a perfect storm for Fontaines D.C., a lighter touch, a softer embrace than the stomping fun of Starburster.  

Ultimately this second single showcases the boom of confidence Fontaines D.C. is working with following Skinty Fia. Never has the band sounded so fresh and inspired. Their writing, performance and portrayal of those Thatcher-poisoned days are powerful works not just because they paint a poignant picture but because the impact of the past still ripples today. It shapes the future and Favourite understands this with an ongoing brutality. Flurries of everything right with rock tones of the time, Fontaines D.C. one more provides a quality slice of their evolving sound. Favourite is an apex example. A peak on the rising charms of a band with much more to say. Romance is surely set to be a sound worth remembering.