Irish sensations Fontaines D.C. have announced details of their fifth album, Dopamine Chamber. The follow-up to 2024’s Romance, it’ll arrive via XL Recordings on October 24.
“The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” says frontman Grian Chatten. “You step inside, and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.
“I think Romance was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling. This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted – the mask is wearing the face a little more.
“I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.
“There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity.”
“Our albums have always questioned a sense of place,” adds bassist Conor Deegan. “First Dublin, then being away from Dublin, and then trying to find the romance elsewhere. On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?
The band have also released the first single from the album, the atmospheric Marianne. A video, directed by Dave Marsh, who’s previously worked with the likes of Doja Cat, Snoop Dogg, Coldplay, Drake and Ed Sheeran, is on the way.
Fontaines D.C. have several shows lined up in Europe and the US, including the UK’s Reading and Leeds festivals. Full dates below.
Fontaines D.C. 2026 dates
Aug 18: Lausanne Les Docks, Switzerland
Aug 20: Sankt Polten FM4 Frequency, Austria
Aug 28: Reading Festival, UK
Aug 29: Leeds Festival, UK
Aug 30: Stradbally Hall Electric Picnic, Ireland
Sep 18: Atlanta Shaky Knees, GA
Sep 20: Asbury Park Sea.Hear.Now, NJ
Sep 27: Dana Point Ohana Festival, CA
(Image credit: XL Recordings)
