Fontaines D.C.'s decadent, dystopian vision of our time

"We're in a glorious age of distraction," says Grian Chatten, the lead singer of the Irish band Fontaines D.C."I just want to make people really feel things about the world that they live in.

Because it's such a terrifying world at the moment." Elizaveta Porodina hide caption At almost exactly the midpoint of our conversation about the fifth album made by his band, Fontaines D.C., Grian Chatten said to me, "It's an interesting time to be a self." We'd been talking about the themes on Dopamine Chamber, which comes out on Friday, Oct.16, and could serve as a soundtrack to the era we live in now, what Chatten calls our "glorious age of distraction."It's also an interesting time to be a rock band in the mainstream, and that's where Fontaines D.C., which formed in 2014, definitely lives these days.

The Irish quintet's next tour has them in stadiums and arenas, and the one guest on Dopamine Chamber is pop's universal "it" girl, the Spanish singer Rosalía.The 2024 album Romance took Fontaines to another level, earning them two Grammy nominations and their best sales ever, with hits like the sweet and earnest "Favourite." Following it up, Fontaines didn't take the easy way.

Instead, they explored new sounds to create a captivating sonic travelogue that somehow connects the decadent beauty of old Europe with the narcotic ethereality of cyberspace.Things really gel for Fontaines on Dopamine Chamber.Using vintage synthesizers and studio effects, the band builds on the hypnotic energy that has always been its calling card to make something huge and seductive and haunting.

I was lucky to speak with Chatten about his evolution as a storyteller and his place within a band that's always growing, but which remains utterly true to itself.This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.You can listen to an extended version of this interview, plus a...