The vocalist of Dublin’s favorite post-punk band Fontaines D.C., Grain Chatten, releases his debut album Chaos For The Fly.
First formed during college in 2014, Fontaines D.C.’s five members bonded over a mutual love for poetry. Since their inception, the Grammy-nominated band has released three internationally-charting albums, topped many year-end lists from well-respected periodicals like DIY Magazine and NME, and won 2023’s BRIT Award for International Group.
Where new-age folk treads the loungecore nostalgia of Nancy Sinatra, Chaos of The Fly is an achievement purely of Chatten’s own metamorphosis. Ahead of his debut album, Chatten released a string of album singles with emotional repertoires that mirror the great storytellers of human nature like Leonard Cohen.
The folksy feel of “The Score,” engendered by acoustic guitar and low-key electronic backing, sees the Dublin singer “shift his creative process from a collaborative endeavour to a solely introspective one,” according to the press release. He says, “‘The Score’ is a heavyweight bated breath of lust. I wrote it in Madrid between an electric fan and a dying plant and I intend to keep it there. It was inspired by sugar and sunset.”
The record’s emotions peaks with the wonderous “Fairlies.” “I wrote ‘Fairlies’ in intense heat,” Grian said. “Partly in Jerez, Spain, partly in LA a couple of days before a Fontaines D.C. tour kicked off. It was a quick write, and I believe I celebrated each line with a beer.” The track’s bright-colored animation, created by bandmate Callum Scott-Dyson, embraces its spontaneity and rushed undertone with confidence.
Sometimes, Chatten’s love for poetry becomes too crass, dulling the production (“All Of The People and “East Side Bed.”) But, overall, Chaos For The Fly oozes ingenious production, with “I Am So Far” and “Season For Pain” steering the nine-track emotional roller coaster.
