Fontaines D.C. are moving further away from the conventional mechanics of a guitar band. Following last month's release of Marianne, the Dublin five piece have shared Tongue, the second preview of their fifth album, Dopamine Chamber, due out October 16 on XL Recordings. The track makes it clear that the group are not interested in repeating their earlier formulas, opting instead to dismantle standard rock arrangements in favor of distorted, mechanical textures.
The central voice on Tongue sounds deliberately unnatural. To achieve that effect, guitarist Carlos O'Connell took Grian Chatten's vocal track and fed it through a sampler, warping the pitch until the delivery resembled what the group described as a malicious extraterrestrial. Chatten sings lines like "Deep inside your brain / I feel the same" and "Deeper as we go / I think you know" through that digital haze, while abrasive guitar parts, jarring piano chords, and strings crowd the arrangement. The friction between physical instruments and heavy studio processing defines the entire track.
That clinical approach carried through the rest of the recording process. Guitarist Conor Curley noted that the band wanted to build directly on the sonic ground they broke with their last record, Romance, choosing to keep live band performances locked away until each part became unavoidable. Bassist Conor Deegan III took cues from Prince's tape-manipulation techniques to build the song's unsteady groove, running the tape at altered speeds during the session. The resulting low end sags with a sluggish, pitch-dropped tone that calls to mind chopped hip-hop records, serving as a blunt counterweight to the sharp guitar lines.
Fans caught an early taste of the track when Fontaines D.C. debuted it during a recent show in Brooklyn. Video of the performance spread across social media, where listeners noticed stylistic ties to the heavy swing of Korn, a band the Dublin quintet spoke highly of back in 2024. Tongue is not the only fresh piece of music they have been testing in front of crowds. Audiences have also heard the unreleased Six Shot Morning, while Happy For You made its debut during the band's appearance at Leeds Festival. For the studio version of Tongue, the group paired the release with a New York City video directed by John Angus Stewart.
These developments point toward the broader atmosphere of Dopamine Chamber, which examines themes of digital overload and technical collapse. Arriving after a busy period that included a Mercury Prize nomination for Romance, a track on the War Child Help(2) benefit compilation, and a contribution to the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man soundtrack, the upcoming record approaches contemporary detachment with a colder eye. Chatten described the album as a psychological testing ground, comparing its balance to that of their previous work. Where Romance kept roughly sixty percent of its human heart against forty percent synthetic decay, Chatten explained that Dopamine Chamber reverses those numbers, leaving about sixty percent of the record corrupted by artificial forces.
The tracklist also reveals a collaboration with Rosalía on a song called Where Is Gone, pointing to even wider stylistic detours ahead. Following their headline appearances at Reading and Leeds, the band will embark on a major UK and European arena tour in the autumn of 2026. Their live schedule stretches well into 2027 with stops confirmed for Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, alongside outdoor headlining slots that include two nights at Slane Castle with Hayley Williams and two shows at Manchester's Heaton Park featuring Little Simz and Viagra Boys.
