Fontaines D.C. Share New Single 'Tongue' Ahead of Oct. 16 Album
Dublin band Fontaines D.C. have released a new single, 'Tongue,' taken from their fifth studio album Dopamine Chamber, due October 16 via XL Recordings. It follows last month's lead single 'Marianne' as the album's second-released track. The song arrives with an official music video directed by John Angus Stewart and shot in New York City. According to NME, the band first performed the song live last week at a show in Brooklyn.
Pitch-shifted vocals and a Prince-style bassline
Guitarist Carlos O'Connell ran singer Grian Chatten's vocal through a sampler to alter its pitch, layering it over jagged guitar, eerie piano and strings to create what the band describes as a texture close to a 'malevolent alien voice.' The intent, per the band, was to process and warp the song's human elements into something disorienting and unmoored.
Guitarist Conor Curley said the band continued the approach used on Romance, holding back full live-band elements until they're genuinely needed. Bassist Conor 'Deego' Deegan III drew on recording techniques associated with Prince, adjusting tape speed to get a loose, hip-hop-sample-like low end. After a live version of the track leaked, some fans noted echoes of Korn — a band Chatten and others have cited as an influence in a 2024 NME interview.
'Dopamine Chamber': darker, more synthetic
Earlier this month the band revealed the full tracklist for Dopamine Chamber, which includes 'Where Is Gone?,' a collaboration with Rosalía. In a statement, the band said the album leans 'darker and more synthetic,' chasing pleasure in an environment threatened with collapse by digital and artificial forces. Chatten has described the album itself as a dopamine chamber that listeners enter while the band tests various mind- and mood-altering sounds on them.
He's also framed the ratio between the two records: where Romance was roughly 60% human and 40% eroded by automation and emotional depletion, this one flips that balance, with more of the human side eroded. Chatten said he chose not to leave listeners with hope, instead presenting the ugliness honestly, making the album feel more like a warning of disaster. Dopamine Chamber follows 2024's Mercury Prize-nominated Romance. The band has also recently contributed to the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man soundtrack and War Child's Help(2) compilation. Live sets have also featured two unreleased songs, 'Six Shot Morning' and 'Happy For You,' the latter debuted at Leeds Festival.
Tour dates
- Fall 2026: UK and European indoor arena tour, following last month's headline set at Reading & Leeds
- Summer 2027: large outdoor shows including two nights at Slane Castle, Ireland, and two nights at Heaton Park, Manchester; UK dates support from Little Simz and Viagra Boys, Irish dates opened by Hayley Williams
- 2027 tour also includes Italy, Germany, Japan, Australia and New Zealand dates
- Remaining UK/European ticket availability: check the band's official website
NME gave Fontaines D.C.'s Reading Festival 2026 headline set four and a half stars.