Album Review: Fontaines D.C., Dopamine Chamber

If decades in music get defined by the prevailing artists of an era – The Beatles in the ’60s, Madonna in the ’80s – there’s a case to be made for Fontaines D.C. being the defining act of the Nervous ’20s.

Five blisteringly good studio LPs in seven years is no small feat, but what makes the band so compelling is that each of their albums speaks to the present moment, in all its cold and chaotic dysfunction.

Dopamine Chamber finds Fontaines moving even further away from the live guitar emphasis of their earlier work – embracing new styles in ways that are, by turns, liberating and devastating.

From the opening throb of ‘Six Shot Morning’, their efforts to dig deeper into the electronic elements introduced on 2024’s Romance are immediately evident. Bolstered by the expertise of returning producer James Ford, Dopamine Chamber arrives as a thrilling expansion of Romance’s fantastical sonic world – though the tone is even more sinister this time around.

Brooding synths and bold samples serve as a backdrop to many of these songs which, thematically, address how our humanity has been stripped away by tech advancement, social decay and an artificial reality – with lyrics referencing a society in which “Everybody’s depressed [and] running on a wheel.”

Already one of his generation’s finest lyricists, frontman Grian Chatten and his bandmates produce some of their most captivating work yet, crafting scenes rich in drama and anguish. While the world burns around us, screens, algorithms and artificial dopamine spikes reign supreme, and mysterious forces pull the strings from the shadows.

All the while, the album’s characters contend with feelings of loneliness, insecurity and depression. ‘Japan’ brilliantly explores the messiness of a modern relationship, while the feverish, hip-hop-inspired ‘Tongue’ ventures into more menacing terrain: “More abuse than an Adderall / Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I called.”

On ‘Intimate’, cosmetic perfection proves more important than a worthwhile, viable existence: “The ruins of the human dream / Colourful ending – so pretty in the final scene.”

In what has become a Fontaines trademark, there is a tender, mid-album respite from this intense, largely synthetic world, in the form of ‘One Man’ and ‘Where Is Gone?’. The latter sees avant-pop superstar Rosalía become the first outside artist to feature on a Fontaines song. And it’s every bit as good as you hoped it would be – boasting the sweeping power of a Bond theme, but carved out with genuine emotion and depth.

It’s another stand-out on what is unquestionably one of the true landmark albums of 2026, here in Ireland and far beyond.

Out October 16

9/10