"Dublin in the rain is mine, a pregnant city with a catholic mind, starch those sheets for the birdhouse jail, all mescalined when the past is stale, pale"
So go the opening lines of Fontaines D.C.'s latest release, painting a Hunter S Thompson fever dream image of Ireland's capital city in the mind's eye. Personally, having spent many a night voyaging between some of Dublin's fine hostelries, I can vouch for the city taking on a particular charm when the rain falls (though this may be due to carrying several pints of Arthur's finest in my belly at such occasions). At under two minutes Big is a short, punchy statement of intent; "but I'm gonna be big" yells the tune's protagonist, over a rolling bassline and pounding beat, railing against his city as only someone who loves their home can. If a flicker of recognition causes your brain to conjure up Professional Widow you wouldn't be alone, though this is a different beast than Tori Amos' tune (but I'd not say no to a mash-up).
The video, below, features a precocious boy stomping around the stalls of Moore Street market, passers-by stumbling into frame as they exit shops along the cobbled street. It's a welcome remove from the usual tropes of Dublin directors fall back on; no sham-rocked stereotypes here, just a lad being himself in the city, and it fits the song well. Yes, the more I hear of Fontaines D.C. the more I like them, and that's no bad thing.
Dublin's Fontaines D.C. have been causing a bit of a stir for a while now, gaining a London following on strong word of mouth, leading to a support slot with Shame, plus they've had love lavished upon them from the likes of Steve Lamacq and the NME(I know, I stopped reading it when it from a Libertines fan club magazine to a freebie doled out in Top Shop, but they it still get it right occasionally). New single Too Real is a weirdly brilliant rollercoaster of rhythm (THAT guitar sound is a wonderful thing) and lyrics, jarringly catchy, polished off with a refreshingly disaffected vocal delivery. To be honest it may as well come with a neon sign attached flashing "We're Ones To Watch, See You Everywhere In 2019".
Fontaines D.C. are currently playing the smaller venues on the circuit (they rock up at Southampton's Joiners in January) though I'll wager that, come the end of next year, you'd be lucky to find them playing anything smaller than an 1800 capacity venue.
After moving house I spent a lot of time poring through a near never-ending series of cardboard boxes, locating and decanting items previously packaged away for safe transit, stumbling across all manner of odd items I'd squirrelled away in the process. If I've learnt one thing from moving house it's that, perhaps, I may have a bit of a problem when it comes to not throwing things away (as I appear to have retained a lot of paraphernalia some might think useless).
For example, inside one box was a piece of orange card that dated from 1993, sent by East West Records to inform me that Irish alternative rock band The Fat Lady Sings were releasing a series of six collectable CD singles from their then soon-to-be-released second album Johnson. The CD singles could be stored in a cardboard sleeve, supplied with the final single, and would feature B-sides and demo tracks. It seems weird to think now, given both the vinyl revival and the death of physical single thanks to streaming, that CD singles were ever a thing. That's the 90s for you.
The Fat Lady Sings were one of my favourite bands of the time. Twist, their first album, is an assured collection of songs that features harmonica-fuelled odes to internal masochism in the face of broken hearted love (Deborah) and likening loneliness to an area of Antarctica (Dronning Maud Land), all featuring lead singer Nick Kelly's distinctive vocals. Fanboy that I am I got to see them play live at The Wedgewood Rooms and, many years later, sought out a solo Nick Kelly play a set in the basement of a Dublin pub (if you ask nicely I'll regale you with the story of how I cajoled an American couple into joining us there and how I ended up post-gig with a signed poster).
Two years after Twist the band, now a three piece, released Johnson. Again an assured collection of songs, with Drunkard Logic's all too relatable tale of failed love viewed through the bottom of a pint glass being a standout (the CD single collection took its name from one of the song's lyrics, "we don't leave ourselves in many things, just in Letters Leases Writs and Rings").
Promotion of the second album saw the band hit the road on an extensive six month tour, including three months across the pond, that culminated with a gig at New York's famed CBGB's venue. Sadly the band split soon after, with frontman Nick walking away to pursue both a career as a solo act and, latterly, as a film director.
Fanboy me, obviously, ensured that I took heed of the orange card and procured all six CD singles (the two released for Show of Myself, the two released for Drunkard Logic and the two released for World Exploding Touch) as and when they were released. I listened, I enjoyed, I stored them all together in the cardboard box supplied with the final single and placed them safely in my record collection (and then, when I moved house, they went into a larger cardboard box).
Amongst the tracks included on the limited edition singles are live tracks (including Twist, Arclight and Be Still), demos (World Exploding Touch and Show of Myself), peculiarities (Creepy Baby, Broken Promised Land) and a rather good remix of Boil. It might be good for my wallet that music isn't packaged in this way any more, and I'm far too old to go in for the completist buying thing (I've even stopped buying Panini stickers, maybe I'm maturing?), though I do miss the days of a boxset of singles. The concept may well have been invented by one of Stelfox's colleagues, and exist only to move product, but they do look rather lovely on a shelf.
Some years after these singles were released, long after the dust settled on The Fat Lady Sings, a lot of the tracks captured in the single collection appeared on the band's retrospective double album; The Fat Lady Singles/Opera Obscuracollates the best of the bands output into onehandy package.
