FONTAINES D.C. HAVE come a long way since meeting at college in Ireland in 2014. A few short years after breaking out of the rehearsal room and into clubs around Ireland and the U.K., rapidly building on the huge buzz around the band, they managed to release three singles in 2018, kicking off with “Liberty Belle.” A deal with Partisan Records soon followed, and Dogrel, their debut album, was released in 2019, peaking at Number 9 in the U.K. That same year they set their sights on America, which involved playing nine sets at SXSW over five days and appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Their efforts Stateside saw them rewarded in 2021, when their second album, 2020’s A Hero’s Death, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album. That was followed by 2022’s Skinty Fia, home of the brooding but catchy “Jackie Down the Line,” with its pulsing, “Watching the Detectives”like riffs aplenty.
The band have just released Romance, which sees them take their sound a long way from the spiky, angular postpunk vibe of their debut record. Guitarists Carlos O’Connell and Conor Curley weave atmospheric textures that underpin singer Grian Chatten’s emotive vocals to create a sound that is simultaneously familiar, yet distinctive enough to set them apart from the typical guitar-driven indie band sound.
O’Connell, a self-confessed guitar geek, is constantly hunting down elusive, obscure gear to unlock the tones he hears in his head. He’s also understandably excited about the new record.
There’s a clear evolution in the band’s sound from the first album through today. Is that a conscious progression?
Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av Guitar World.
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Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av Guitar World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Caparison Dellinger-JSM V2
WAY BACK IN the dark ages (a.k.a. the Eighties), there were two distinct types of guitar shredders who occupied opposite sides of the spectrum: the hard rock player whose weapon of choice was a super Strat versus the country picker who inevitably opted for a Telecaster.
The Ultimate Guitar Shop
Christie’s Jeff Beck Auction offers a revealing look at numerous iconic instruments from the legendary guitarist’s entire career from the Yardbirds to Johnny Depp
Blown Away
Jeff Beck's landmark Blow by Blow dramatically transformed the future for instrumental electric guitar music. Fifty years later, it still remains an inspirational force
TAKE NO PRISONERS
In this exclusive excerpt from Dreaming Japanese, Marty Friedman's new autobiography (co-written by frequent GW contributor Jon Wiederhorn), the ace guitarist details his auditions with Ozzy, Megadeth and - what's this about Madonna?
MAGNIFICENT
Tearing up the blueprint with an octave G string, Johnny Marr's new seven-string Martin signature model is a distillation of all the British icon's most rebellious opinions on acoustic (and yes, there's also a six-string version)
Xotic XSS Super S-Style electric guitar
AS FUNNY AS this sounds, when a brand sends me a new guitar model outfitted with only one pickup, I say to myself, “That’s bold.” Releasing a spartan guitar like the Xotic XSS Super S-Style seems like such a throwback to a time when a guy with the initials EVH changed the entire guitar-world landscape by playing guitar with a solitary humbucker and making every guitarist around the globe realize that might be all we need.
IF GUITAR GOD IS A WOMAN
With renewed confidence and a slew of new guitar-forward songs, Larkin Poe's Rebecca and Megan Lovell are upping the ante of their blues-rock sound once again on seventh album Bloom
TC Electronic Plethora X1 TonePrint Loader
JUDGING BY THE abundance of effects that the TC Electronic Plethora X1 TonePrint Loader makes available to guitarists, it is obvious that TC knows what it means to have a plethora. Just the same, if having too much of a good thing brings you joy, then TC Electronic's Plethora will bring much delight with its many desirable and stellar-sounding effects - each offering a wealth of options.
1950-69, 1986-PRESENT FENDER ESQUIRE
IT’S PRETTY DAMN cool that the very first commercially produced solidbody electric guitar, the Fender Esquire, can still kick serious butt today; you can’t say that about too many 75-year-olds. Many guitarists often forget that the Esquire came before the Telecaster and that a two-pickup version of the Esquire, which came a few months after the single-pickup version, was essentially the first Broadcaster/Nocaster/ Telecaster. But here I’m just going to focus on the single-pickup version.
Tallon Electric "The Noise"
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN living under a rock, you’ll know that collaborative pedals between artists and manufacturers are all the rage now.
