By Holly Hudson
Me and Bryan Garris currently have something in common, and it’s how much we love Fontaines DC’s newest release, Dopamine Chamber. The Irish rock band returns with an album that reflects on what it means to exist in the digital age we find ourselves in. It captures the dystopian feel of modern times, living in what frontman Grian Chatten referred to as a “glorious age of attraction,” while occasionally yearning for a place and time that don’t seem to exist anymore.
The band has been around since 2014, although I didn’t personally get into them til the early 2020s with their albums A Hero’s Death and Skinty Fia. However, their international acclaim skyrocketed in 2024 following the release of their album Romance and its subsequent Grammy nominations. Despite this, the band has remained true to itself and its artistic vision, and Dopamine Chamber is a perfect example of them pushing their rock sounds to new heights.
The opening track, “Six Shot Morning,” is a slow, droning track with Chatten’s distinctive voice singing over quiet distorted guitars that drop into a fun and synth-pop-sounding ending. The lyrics themselves really establish the moodiness of the whole album, with the ending repeating the lines “Melancholy hearts in emotion filming / Melancholy hearts in a motion film.”
Next is “Marianne,” and to be up front, this one is my absolute favorite of the entire album. It’s such a beautiful, layered track, and the cinematic feeling to it makes total sense when you learn about Chatten’s writing process for it. In interviews, including with Ann Powers of NPR, he said that it was inspired by the Netflix adaptation of “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Specifically, he focused on the role of decadence, comparing the decadence of wealth to that of the digital age, as well as portraying the idea of someone trying to replace humanity with materiality. It all comes together to create a tragically romantic song that I cannot stop listening to.
Immediately after is “Mimesis,” another tragic song wrapped up in synth, drum, and bass, carrying a message about indifference in the face of common humanity. Per Merriam-Webster, mimesis is a Greek word that means “imitation” or “representation,” traditionally in the context of how art, literature, and other media mirror real-world behavior. Yet in this song Chatten seems to be drawing a connection not just to the world of art, but also to the world behind our screens. So much of the content we consume online is an imitation of real-world experiences, whether that is food, travel, or interpersonal connection. Yet it also has these nods to classicism, and its historically upper-class roots.
After is “Happy For You,” which describes this back-and-forth relationship, with the singer’s anger reflected in the power of the guitars and drums, especially at the end of the song. The singing took me right back to A Hero’s Death, and I really appreciated the nod to their earlier works. “Demolition” then immediately switches things up, with a softer tone and higher pitch. The lyricism is amazing, with clever use of anaphora that ultimately makes this another angry, desperate song where he both yearns for the other person but also just wants to be done with them.
“Tongue” is a stream-of-consciousness song that is almost overwhelming as he rushes out lyrics that suggest another messy relationship with someone who does more harm than good for him. There’s a delightful piano interlude that feels like tip-toeing around and trying not to get caught.
Track seven is “One Man,” a slow song that swells as the chorus progresses. The second verse describes that sense of being sucked into a digital world in an effort to escape the trials of the real one, and includes the line “Dopamine chamber just tryna kill the pain.”
“Where Is Gone?” is a collaboration with Spanish singer ROSALÍA, featuring another slow start, with quiet guitars allowing their respective voices to ring clear. The harmony in the chorus, with their contrasting high and low notes, is eerily beautiful making for another deceptively pretty song that reveals a relationship in the process of breaking down. Following that is “You Miss Me,” another song that blends their typical guitar and drum sounds with something slightly classical, as he sings about the everpresent numbness and desire for a neverending rest.
In the penultimate track, “Japan” they swing back into a softer tone, but the lyrics paint a woman who is seemingly trapped in a thankless relationship with a man who just takes and gives nothing in return. It comes off like an out-of-body experience for her, which I think captures the parallel Chatten was trying to draw throughout this album between the notion of decadence and the notion of digital media as a means of becoming detached from the real world.
Last, but certainly not least, is “Intimate.” This one feels the most on-the-nose with its critique of digital artificiality, and I’m here for it. The middle verse is practically spoken word as he asks, “What kind of metal are you made of? Can I take a closer look?” But my personal favorite lyrics in this one are the juxtaposed sets of repeating lines, with the early part of the song repeating “Dying and dying and dead,” while the ending is repetitions of “Intimate, that’s how I feel / Intimate, it’s all that’s real.” It sets up this immediate contrast between the materialistic, superficial behavior of the wealthy with the more base desire for intimacy of any form. At the end of the day, people just want to feel seen.
Overall, this is an incredible project that blends and bounces between themes of intimacy, humanity, interpersonal relationships, and the strain of the digital age. My personal favorite tracks were “Marianne,” “Mimesis,” and “You Miss Me,” but I think every track was a brick that supported the overarching themes and message. I enjoyed the experimentation and new sounds that Fontaines DC found, and learning more about their writing process through interviews added so much depth to my appreciation for it. Dopamine Chamber is a brilliant album that I highly recommend to both their existing fans, and anyone just starting to get into them.
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