The greatest band of their generation or not fit enough to support Oasis?
It is safe to say that we have had a major backlog at Reading Indie Life recently. Having not got round to acquiring Dopamine Chamber early we have needed a couple of weeks to live with it for a proper understanding. Does our opinion matter? Probably not at this point, but how can we not comment on one of the most important album releases of the year? Fontaines are definitely having their moment. Reading and Leeds headliners this year, a stadium tour next year. Making inroads into album and single charts around the world. Previous album ‘Romance’ was an undoubted masterpiece – number 2 on our best albums of 2024.
So where does Dopamine Chamber land? Around the press for Romance they began talking about new material and the influence of a more sci-fi/anime asthetic. You can definitely feel it from the moment ‘Six Shot Morning’ starts up. This is not a band afraid to change things or experiment, possibly the most chameleonic major guitar band to emerge since Radiohead. When it cuts loose with synths leading the way you wonder just how high this album is going to fly.
There are absolutely huge highlights here. ‘Marianne’ is a complex grower. It was one of the few tracks they played at Reading that felt like it belonged to a stadium level band, sounding huge compared to most of their back catalogue. Then ‘Mimesis’ drops in and it feels average at best, breaking the spell. ‘Happy For You’ is similar, it has moments where it comes to life but the bulk of it feels quite structuarally basic. ‘Demolition’ has a bit more to it. ‘Only One Man’ has an emotive power.
‘Tongue’ stands out as a quirkier single, definitely one of the better offerings on the album. Having never had a guest spot before getting Rosalía to turn up for your first feels like a massive power move. ‘Where Is Gone?’ is a well constructed track and is by no means a bad duet. Compare it to pretty much any track on Rosalía’s last album and the limitations of Dopamine Chamber start to stand out though. It doesn’t hold a candle to anything on that outstanding album.
‘You Miss Me’ isn’t anything we haven’t heard before from Fontaines, maybe just slightly orchestrally upgraded. ‘Japan’ feels like a range of late nineties indie bands doing a faux-serious track with actually fairly nonsensical lyrics.
Fontaines are a great band, and there are elements of greatness in this new album. Is this the five star monster that it has been made out to be though? Are Fontaines a stadium level band? There have to be doubts there. Whilst plenty enjoyed them at Reading and Leeds plenty of others gathered were unimpressed. For us about six tracks fizzed to the extent you want from a headliner, everything else felt flat, not helped by a range of issues from the tech set-up. It was the second time we had come away from a Fontaines show at Reading feeling disappointed. They were by far the weakest of the six main headliners. They don’t hold a candle to truly outstanding live acts like Radiohead, Bring Me The Horizon, Imagine Dragons or even newer masters like Fat Dog and Kneecap.
Dopamine Chamber is a really good album, I can enjoy it. I just have the highest expectations of this band and I still don’t feel like they are quite hitting them on this album and in the live arena. If they are to be a stadium filling band then the evolution needs to continue further. They need to show more, give more and find a few more settings for Grian Chatten’s vocal delivery. Are they not worthy of supporting Oasis? Liam is too dismissive, his ignorance is perhaps not ready for Grian Chatten’s poetic Irish soul. Are they the greatest band of their generation? It feels like they still have a lot more to prove on that front. They certainly feel capable of achieving it though.
Essential Tracks: ‘Six Shot Morning,’ ‘Marianne,’ and ‘Tongue.’
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