Fontaines D.C. are ready to cause a second wave of chaos with first tease off their upcoming sophomore album A Hero’s Death.

With only a year since their highly acclaimed debut album Dogrel put them on the much deservingly spotlight in 2019, Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. go full speed and are ready to take the next big step with their sophomore album A Hero’s Death, arriving at the end of July. As the band explained, we should be expecting an album that is ‘patient, confident, and complex’ and its first teaser is here to prove that.

The humbly explosive title track, A Hero’s Death is nothing but a lyrically and sonically straightforward short and simple soundscape. With a guitar-infused intro that resembles a darker version of The Strokes’ Last Night, the track is heavy on drums with optimistic lyrics, ‘Life ain’t always empty’ repeating until the very last second. A repetitiveness that starts to give a different, rather ironic meaning the more you give in to the song.

Make sure to also take some time to watch the accompanying visual that adds even more to the track’s level of surrealism. Starring Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, The Wire, Peaky Blinders), the music video has the exact same pessimistic vibe as the track and showcases the harsh messed up truth beneath a successful night talk show.

Speaking of the newest track, singer Grian Chatten explains:

The song is a list of rules for the self, they’re principles for self-prescribed happiness that can often hang by a thread. It’s ostensibly a positive message, but with repetition comes different meanings, that’s what happens to mantras when you test them over and over. There’s this balance between sincerity and insincerity as the song goes on and you see that in the music video as well. That’s why there’s a lot of shifting from major key to minor key. The idea was influenced by a lot of the advertising I was seeing – the repetitive nature of these uplifting messages that take on a surreal and scary feel the more you see them.

The title came from a line in a play by Brendan Behan, and I wrote the lyrics during a time where I felt consumed by the need to write something else to alleviate the fear that I would never be able to follow up ‘Dogrel.’ But more broadly it’s about the battle between happiness and depression, and the trust issues that can form tied to both of those feelings.

A Hero’s Death is set for release on 31st of July and Fontaines D.C. plan on announcing more info on tour dates soon.

Tracklisting

1. I Don’t Belong
2. Love Is The Main Thing
3. Televised Mind
4. A Lucid Dream
5. You Said
6. Oh Such A Spring
7. A Hero’s Death
8. Living In America
9. I Was Not Born
10. Sunny
11. No