Fontaines D.C. Re-Open Old Wounds to Find Brutal Beauty on 'ROMANCE (Deluxe Edition)'
- Abby Anderson
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
Stand-out tracks: "It's Amazing To Be Young" "Starburster / In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)"
Our favorite: "Before You I Just Forget"
Release date: April 16, 2025
Label: XL Recordings
For fans of: The Cure, Radiohead, Wet Leg
With the release of their revolutionary 2024 album, ROMANCE, Fontaines D.C. struck a chord that rippled through rock music. Bold, unsettling, and dynamic, the fourth studio album from the Irish rock band breathed a new life into their alt-rock identity, landing ROMANCE accolades as impressive as the album itself. Now ahead of their biggest North American tour to date, Fontaines D.C. are chasing their highest highs and unveiling their darkest demons with the release of ROMANCE (Deluxe Edition).
ROMANCE (Deluxe Edition), released April 16, is a stunning coda to the unraveling narrative and vivid sonic atmosphere of the original album. Taking a more nostalgic and modest tone than much of the original album, the deluxe tracks interweave all sides of inherent romanticism. From striking "It's Amazing To Be Young" to forthright "Before You I Just Forget", the new additions offer a sense of contemptuous contentment from one of the most refreshing, refined bands of the moment.
Playing off the examination of the warping passing of time from album closer "Favourite," simultaneously wistful and cynical "It's Amazing To Be Young" is a true epilogue to the original ROMANCE. Featuring a dazzlingly hazy guitar riff and cutting, humanizing lyrics like "Sometimes I wake up and it's dark / Perform the ritual that puts me in the part," this track further cements Fontaines D.C. as the masters of finding the bittersweet medium between euphoria and misery. And they flaunt their mastery further by disguising perhaps the most self-effacing track of the full ROMANCE project behind one of the most harmoniously jarring sonics on "Before You I Just Forget," which is as delicately in-balance as humanity itself.
A brilliantly dissonant balance between a raw piano and haunting synth, "Starburster / In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)" brings the era of ROMANCE to an illustrious conclusion. The song itself is a masterclass in narrative composition, as the band strips back the heart of their own project with "Starburster" and interweaves it with David Lynch’s “In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)." While the original "Starburster" is bold in its twisted take on romance, "In Heaven," which originally featured on the soundtrack of Lynch’s bizarrely surrealist Eraserhead film, twists it even further. In the end, ROMANCE (Deluxe Edition) comes to represent an eerie yet conclusive statement on the unflinching exposition of baring your soul in the name of romance.
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