Fontaines D.C. : " Skinty Fia"

This Irish band now perhaps lives in a sonic zip code closer to Radiohead than any type of shoegaze or post-punk revivalists.  They slip away from the more hypnotizing drone it's a slinky groove for "Big Shot".  The vocals are moody but with an underlying attitude. Their singer chooses some interesting placement with his phrasing. This can be felt in the with the lyric bob in and out of the guitars staccato jangle. "How Cold Love is " flirts with their punk rock youth and guides it with a smoky groove that invokes dive bars past midnight.  This album is very dynamic as the more upbeat street musings of "Jackie Down the Line" holds most of its grit in the lyrics, with the music bringing the Pixies to mind, though the vocals are less quirky and more matter of fact. 

The Pixies influence I am detecting does not stop with that song, the prominent plod of the bass line mixes them with Jesus and the Mary Chain, the later setting more of the tone for the mood. This band's strength lies in their song writing, like many artists the Beatles certainly being one of them in how they covered a great deal of ground stylistically while retaining their identity, rather than coming across that they were just trying on musical hats. This is not to say some of these genres they dip into are not in my mind tied closely to other artists, a problem the Beatles did not have. An example being the brand of dancey Brit pop they bob into on "Roman Holiday" carries it's ambiance in the same manner as Stone Roses. It's not until the accordions come out on "the Couple Across the Way" that they overstep things. This kind of folk does not play to their strengths. 

They pull out another dancey groove on the title track. He is not rapping on this , but his vocals are more spoken than sung. I mean if it wasn't white people doing in this in 2022 then perhaps we could call it rap, I mean if you have to work off that kind of flawed logic. He stays in the more staccato spoken vocal delivery for "I Love You" which reminds me of Idles more melodic moments.  It is another song that makes the case for them being a punk band, though I prefer the darker sonics they stir up on the last song. The guitars are a little more aggressive. I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it grows on me . The first half is notably stronger , but except for the accordion folk moment the tracks that do not slap as hard are still better than most indie rock coming out,