Dogrel – FONTAINES D.C. ★★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2019	Dogrel	FONTAINES D.C.	★★★★	80	Rock	Alternative Rock	Post Punk

Dogrel is authentically punk, with driving drums and guitar, fun, ra-ra energy and post-punk monotone vocals that deliver smart lyrics with repetitive, singalong refrains. But for a punk album, it’s surprisingly even tempered. 

Compared to their Irish 2019 contemporaries, FONTAINES D.C. isn’t as angry and in your face as IDLES, they don’t have the rebellious attitude of Shame or the raw heft that The Murder Capital carries with them. 

FONTAINES D.C.‘s sound is quite quaint in comparison. Tracks frequently use brighter, open sounding guitar chords and softer effects; sometimes light, Smith’s like cynicism mixed with the grit of the Clash. They use the music to build up the character of their themes and to paint a picture of their childhoods and hometown of Dublin, instead of just shouting aggressively about Irish politics and culture. Grian Chatten’s words feel honest and personal. 

“Too Real” is the closest you get to that shouting, ready to fight feeling, but the way the band strips away the instruments at times and just leaves the vocals and drums to build up energy helps keep things grounded. Grian Chatten can rely on that thumping drum to convey the message instead of delivering an over dramatic or agitated performance. 

Taking those direct punk and rock cues from the 70s or 80s leads to a much more radio friendly and approachable package for the post-punk genre. “Television Screen,”  “Hurricane Laughter” and “Boys in the Better Land” have the energy of The Libertines or the Arctic Monkey without the raucous.   “The Lotts” has a dark, Peter Hook kind of bass line. And “Roy’s Tune” is a good, honest,  rock track, hold the punk.