New music

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This article was published 27/09/2024 (713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROCK

Fontaines D.C.

Romance (XL Records)

Since the late-August release of Romance, Fontaines D.C.’s fourth full-length album, the five-piece Irish post-punk outfit has headlined the massive Leeds and Reading festivals, sparked a slagging match with Liam Gallagher by saying they weren’t fussed about an Oasis reunion, and embarked on a North American tour that’s been disrupted by singer Grian Chatten’s vocal problems.

All that stuff is ephemeral, really (except for Chatten’s laryngitis — speedy recovery to the lad), compared to the huge musical leap the group takes on Romance. On this 11-song album, Chatten, guitarists Conor Curley and Carlos O’Connell, bassist Conor Deegan III and drummer Tom Coll step out of the archetypically grey perspective of frustrated Irish poets and step into the kaleidoscopic colours and sounds of the modern world (a move deliberately underlined by the band’s manga-inspired makeover).

Don’t be misled by the visuals, though — Fontaines D.C. haven’t suddenly become the Prodigy. However, the quintet is now much more willing to break out of the guitar-driven-doggerel mould that has been its calling card.

The updated version welcomes sweeping, atmospheric synthesizer breaks (as on the apocalyptic title track, which opens the album); it incorporates fairground organ sounds and hip hop beats and spits exaggerated rhymes (as on first single Starburster); and it even adopts the dramatic, ’90s urgency of bands such as Smashing Pumpkins (Here’s the Thing and Bug). Desire is a slow-burning epic with multi-layered vocals from Chatten, swirling shoegaze guitars and ethereal string arrangements.

At the root of all this, though, Fontaines D.C. is still a five-piece rock band, one now pushing itself, with the help of Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford, to sample and reflect the cultural zeitgeist. On the two Romance songs that do this most overtly — In the Modern World and closing track Favourite — Chatten and co. find themselves grappling with the ennui of our techno-digital world, only to remind themselves that salvation, as ever, is found in love and human interaction.

Four stars out of five

STREAM: Bug; Here’s the Thing; Favourite

— John Kendle

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POP

Katy Perry

143 (Capitol)

Katy Perry’s new album title, 143, is code for “I love you,” based on the number of letters in each word of the phrase. She may love us, but the album is more like 144 — “I made mush.”

Perry’s first LP since 2020’s lacklustre Smile is just as lacklustre, an 11-track blur of thick electronic programming and simplistic lyrics. There’s none of her past cheeky humour, virtually no personality and even the title is filler.

The rollout has been snakebit from the jump, with the artist under fire for collaborating with music producer Dr. Luke and the video for Woman’s World emerging as a sloppy, puzzling attempt at satire. Then her video shoot on a Spanish beach for Lifetimes was investigated for potential environmental damage.

It doesn’t help that the first three singles are just OK. Woman’s World is a frothy Lady Gaga-esque arena-pop anthem, the techno-stomper Lifetimes smacks of Calvin Harris from the 2010s and I’m His, He’s Mine lazily lifts Crystal Waters’ Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless) from 1991. It’s a trio of tunes that doesn’t scream 578 (“Katy’s totally relevant”).

Gimme Gimme, featuring 21 Savage, lacks bite, a nursery rhyme from a new mother masquerading as a pop song (with crib-adjacent lyrics like “Say the right thing, maybe you can be/Crawling on me, like a centipede”).

Gorgeous with Kim Petras is marred by what sounds like a dog’s squeaky toy repeatedly going off in the mix, undercutting the notion of two women “coming out tonight, grab your man and hold him tight.” Squeak!

If the best song on 143 is Lifetimes, the worst is easily the closer, a sticky-sweet, wide-eyed plea for innocence in Wonder, sticking out like a sore thumb. This is a cynical attempt to have moms in the audience wave their hands in unison as balloons float up, even as it decries cynicism.

But by this point, she’s lost our trust, with the 10 previous songs a sonic slog. 143 has no soul or emotion; it’s just a number.

One star out of five

STREAM: Lifetimes

— Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press

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JAZZ

Dafnis Prieto Sí o Sí Quartet

3 Sides of the Coin (Dafnison)

The short report on this album is that it is a totally fun and energetic romp with rhythmic leadership throughout by the Cuban leader/drummer Dafnis Prieto. This is not to suggest it is a somehow simple retro Latin album. It is not.

Drummer Prieto leads a fine quartet with Peter Apfelbaum on saxophones and flute, Martin Bejerano on piano and Ricky Rodriguez on electric bass. Together they lay down a series of largely uptempo Latin-infused tunes that swirl through sophisticated melodies with abandon.

The opening track, Caprichos Cubanos sets up the album and gives Prieto a chance to show just what he can do with a drum kit. On this and the other tracks, each member gets terrific space to show his skills, while Prieto’s rhythm is the unmistakeable foundation. Conga Ingenua basically makes toe tapping mandatory; Apfelbaum and Bejerano dig in and don’t let go. There are gentler tracks but subtlety loses to rhythm here with a jubilant spirit.

Naïve gives Rodriguez full rein on electric bass as he leads the group on a laid-back ballad that develops into a statement by each member. Humanoid and Funky Humanoid crank it up again. There is tight chemistry between the musicians. At any tempo they work seamlessly together with an element of joy that is infectious.

Prieto says the concept of the album was to ponder one’s concept of reality. The coin has two sides, but he says the third side is “an individual’s interpretation of the physical fact of the coin.” That consideration is obviously boldly lots of fun. So is this album.

Four stars out of five

Stream: Conga Ingenua, Two Sides of the Coin

— Keith Black

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CLASSICAL

MultiPiano Ensemble

Unplayed Stories … in 40 Fingers(Hyperion)

What could be better than one pianist but four, as found on the evocatively titled Unplayed Stories … in 40 Fingers. The release features the MultiPiano Ensemble comprised of Tomer Lev, Berenika Glixman, Nimrod Haftel-Meiri and Alon Kariv in an eclectic program of Romantic piano works, joined by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, led by Ivor Bolton.

It’s also noteworthy that these are all first recordings of reconstructions by perennial favourite composers such as Mendelssohn, Schubert and Liszt, as well as their lesser-known contemporary, Bohemian Ignaz Moscheles.

A particular highlight is Alexander Tamir’s arrangement of Schubert’s Grosse Fantasie Wanderer, with duo Lev and Glixman bringing fullness to its stately, rhythmically percussive theme in the opening Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo. This is followed by the Adagio, infused with requisite pathos, before the lively finale Presto sees each player nimbly scaling the full range of their respective keyboards, further underscored by Bolton’s responsive artistry.

Another is Schubert’s Grande Marches, arranged by Ernst Pauer for two pianos, eight hands, with March in B minor, D819 No. 3 and March in E major, D819, No. 6 brought to life with militaristic zeal.

Also included is Moscheles’s more darkly hewn Les Contrastes Grand Duo — also for the same configuration — as well as Mendelssohn and Moscheles’s Fantaisie and Variations on a theme by Weber, featuring Kariv and Lev. This intriguing album proves the musical power and possibilities of 40 digits.

Four stars out of five

STREAM: Grosse Fantasie Wanderer; Grande Marches, March in B minor, D819 No. 3

— Holly Harris