My first experience listening to Dopamine Chamber was on vinyl, front to back, in a record store surrounded by fellow Fontaines D.C. fans. And ever since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
The second the record stopped spinning, my first thought was: Wow, I can’t wait to read the reviews. There was something about hearing the album in its entirety, without interruptions, that made me eager to see how others would interpret this new chapter for the band. More importantly, it left me wanting to listen to it all over again.
The album opens with ‘Six Shot Morning’, one of the tracks the band have been teasing live and arguably one of the most anticipated songs on the record. It makes for an incredible opener, setting the tone for an album that leaves you with a distinctly bittersweet feeling. “It’s you and I living for a million years, always” captures that sense of longing beautifully, lingering somewhere between devotion and melancholy. It's got an underlying apocalyptic feeling to it, which continues to weave itself through the most part of this record.
‘Demolition’ is probably my favourite of the new tracks, standing out as an immediate highlight. Meanwhile, ‘Tongue’, a single that has proven somewhat polarising, finds its place within the wider context of the album. Sometimes, a song that might feel divisive when released on its own makes considerably more sense when experienced as part of a larger body of work, and that is precisely what happens here. The collaboartion with Rosalía stands out as something very special on this record. The way their voices weave together is magical, with Chatten's lower register creating a push and pull with Rosalías angelic counterpart - sort of reminiscent of the collaboration between Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue on 'Where the Wild Roses Grow'.
‘Happy For You’ finally delivers the guitar explosion you’ve been waiting for across the opening tracks, and it does so beautifully. The closing track, ‘Intimate’, is nothing short of incredible. Its instrumentation is phenomenal, and paired with Chatten’s more spoken-word vocal delivery, it creates something that feels distinct from the rest of the record. It’s an understated yet captivating finale, and easily one of the album’s most interesting moments.
What makes Dopamine Chamber so exciting is Fontaines D.C.’s willingness to explore new territory. There are shades of Depeche Mode and New Order woven into the record’s sonic landscape, alongside moments that call back to Grian Chatten’s solo project, Chaos For The Fly. Rather than feeling like a departure for the sake of it, these influences reveal another side of a band that has never been particularly interested in standing still. And honestly? I welcome the change.
Fontaines D.C.’s more guitar-heavy material isn’t going anywhere. Those records are still there for anyone who wants to revisit them. But a band’s willingness to evolve is what makes following their journey so exciting in the first place. Since their earliest releases, Fontaines D.C. have consistently pushed beyond the boundaries of their previous sound, and Dopamine Chamber feels like another natural step in that progression. If anything, it showcases just how broad their musical range really is. They aren’t abandoning what made them Fontaines D.C.; they’re proving that it was never the only thing they could be.
DOPAMINE CHAMBER OUT NOW.
Words by
Marie Müller, 2026