SINGLE REVIEW: the new fontaines d.c. track, "a hero's death," debuts as annie mac's hottest record

A year and some change after they released one of the most profound and understated debut albums of our generation, Dublin post-punk band Fontaines D.C. present "A Hero's Death," the title track off of their second record, which is due out the 31st of July via Partisan Records.

The track debuted Tuesday evening on Annie Mac's Future Sounds as her Hottest Record.

On the track, frontman Grian Chatten said:

The song is a list of rules for the self, they’re principles for self-prescribed happiness that can often hang by a thread. It’s ostensibly a positive message, but with repetition comes different meanings, that’s what happens to mantras when you test them over and over. There’s this balance between sincerity and insincerity as the song goes on and you see that in the music video as well. That’s why there’s a lot of shifting from major key to minor key. The idea was influenced by a lot of the advertising I was seeing – the repetitive nature of these uplifting messages that take on a surreal and scary feel the more you see them. The title came from a line in a play by Brendan Behan, and I wrote the lyrics during a time where I felt consumed by the need to write something else to alleviate the fear that I would never be able follow up Dogrel. But more broadly it’s about the battle between happiness and depression, and the trust issues that can form tied to both of those feelings.

Everything Fontaines D.C. pen and put out seems very cut-and-dry - you might think that what you see with them is exactly what you get, but they're proving with every release that they've perfected the extended metaphor. They've perfected songwriting as a tool, as a way to tell you exactly what they're feeling and what they want you to know without explicitly saying it.

I am looking more forward to A Hero's Death than anything else coming this summer. Preorders for the album - including an absolutely gorgeous limited blue pressing - can be found on the band's website, and it can be presaved anywhere you stream music. Fontaines D.C., in the meantime, can be found on Twitter and Instagram.

Emily Marshman is the founder and technically the editor-in-chief of this magazine, but who's counting. She'd like you to know she started this blog to be able to talk unabashedly about the bands she loves, and is happy to report it hasn't gotten old yet. She's a cancer sun, scorpio rising, and libra moon (chew on that) from Upstate New York (no, further upstate than you're thinking) and loves asides more than she'd care to admit. She can be found and bothered on Twitter and Instagram, if you so choose. She'd also like to thank you for reading this piece and supporting Buzzkill, and hopes you love it as much as she does!