Fontaines D.C. have announced their fifth album, Dopamine Chamber. The follow-up to 2024’s Romance is out October 16 via XL. Here’s everything we know so far.
When did Fontaines D.C. first tease the album?
On August 16, the band posted a 26-second video on social media that shows a spinning blue planet transforming into a blue iris. The phrase “Dopamine Chamber” then appears, followed by “2026.” The clip is soundtracked by ‘Six Shot Morning’, one of two songs they debuted during their first headline show of 2026 on August 8 in Cádiz, Spain.
What does the album cover look like?
What about the tracklist?
The full tracklist was not shared upon the album’s announcement, but we do know the record spans 11 tracks.
Have any singles from the album been released?
The band shared the lead single ‘Marianne’ along with the announcement.
What has the band said about the new album?
Before the album’s announcement, the band mostly shared updates about the record. “We’ve been writing, it’s been fun,” guitarist Carlos O’Connell said in an interview back in January. “We’re at Reading & Leeds and there are a couple of shows before that. I think if the music is there, it could get busy.”
“The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” frontman Grian Chatten said in a statement. “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.” He added: “There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity.”
What are some of the inspirations behind the new record?
Per press materials, Chatten spent time in Venice, Vienna, and Sicily looking for lyrical inspiration. “I think Romance was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling,” he explained. “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.”
“Our albums have always questioned a sense of place,” bassist Conor Deegan added. “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?”
Who produced the album?
The band reunited with producer James Ford, who helmed Romance, for the new album. It was recorded between London, the English countryside, and Palermo, where Chatten tracked vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.
This story will be updated…
