Presumably titled ‘Skinty Fia’ the new single was shared to us via the band’s socials, in the form of a YouTube premiere, set for 6PM GMT on Tuesday 11^th. This marks the first new studio recording since their sophomore album LP A Hero’s Death was released back in 2020, to solid critical and commercial acclaim. The popularity of the album lead to the band playing a huge headline show at London’s Alexandra Palace, where they would share the first of their first new material to the eagerly waiting fans. ‘I Love You’ begins nicely with its Johnny Marr-Esque jangly guitars, but by the end returns to the driving urgency the band have become known for. Watch a fan-shot video from the gig below.

During an interview with NME back in September, the band’s bassist Connor Deegan III explains, “The third album is really good,” which is a very good start, “We all thought the songs were quite poppy. We thought we’d got this sound that was finally the sound that we wanted to get across the songs, which we thought was quite poppy.” This could be good news, or bad news depending on what camp you sit in. But, “We showed them to our manager, and he said, ‘Lads, this is the darkest shit you’ve ever written!’ And we were like, ‘What? What are you talking about? This bass melody is catchy, this vocal melody is catchy’. He was just like, ‘No, this is extremely dark’. So there you go!”.

So whichever side of the fence you sit on regarding their possibly-pop-driven new direction, we know that it’s due soon after it was first confirmed to be pretty much finished back in March last year after a Reddit AMA with the band revealed “We just finished mixing the next record last week, sounding really great. It’s funny because we were so swept up with touring when we were writing a hero’s death, I think we only got a sense of what that record really is now.”

See here for the group’s full list of appearances in the summer.

In preparation for their keenly awaited second album A Hero’s Death, Televised Mind marks Fontaines D.C’s third release from their upcoming project. Formed in 2017, Fontaines D.C stormed onto the punk rock scene before releasing Dogrel. Their debut album was met with admiration from critics and fans alike and was awarded Album of The Year 2019 by both Rough Trade and BBC Radio 6. 

Televised Mind also follows the previously released I Don’t Belong and title track A Hero’s Death. Reminiscent of early Nirvana, I Don’t Belong is bathed in melancholia, whilst the title track is punkier and aggressively charged. 

Televised Mind certainly matches the power behind I Don’t Belong and A Hero’s Death strength for strength. With a title that alludes to George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, frontman Grian Chatten sings the haunting: “Dublin line for the televised mind/We’re all televised minds”, cautionary lyrics, and more relevant than we may want to admit.

A narrative voice striving for authenticity in an increasingly inauthentic world, the song is about maintaining individuality in a society fuelled by trends. Fontaines D.C stated that: “We’re never really given the education of our own fallibility. People feign these great beliefs in order to appear trendy, as opposed to independently arriving at their own thoughts”. 

Alluding to past punk rock anthems, the track opens with an isolated electric guitar riff, immediately compelling the listener. Quickly following are booming, steadfast drums and more droning, hypnotic guitars. Pounding with raw instrumentation and robust vocals, the track screams Fontaines D.C, their distinct punk sound the reasoning behind their fast success.

Fontaines D.C simultaneously dropped the music video, which was directed by Hugh Malhern,  on YouTube to 21,000 subscribers. Simple yet effective, the music video displays individual close-ups of each band member drenched in neon blue playing their instruments, with a jet black background. Garnering over 7,000 views in a few short hours, the music video was met with an ecstatic reception from fans.

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Our new single ‘Televised Mind’ is out now. Pre-order our album ‘A Hero’s Death’ to get it straight away. Link in bio. . . . Video directed by @hughmulhern

A post shared by Fontaines D.C. (@fontainesband) on Jun 30, 2020 at 9:30am PDT

The five-piece band also took to their official Instagram page to post news of their latest release. The short clip was shared with over 76,000 followers and featured the Televised Mind music video. 

Already it has obtained an exuberant reception from fans, with 8,000 likes and views in just four hours. The band captioned the post with the following statement: “Our new single ‘Televised Mind’ is out now. Pre-order our album ‘A Hero’s Death’ to get it straight away. Link in bio”

Formed in 2017, the Irish band is made up of members Carlos O’Connell, Conor Curley, Connor Deegan, Grian Chatten, and Tom Coll. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the punk quintet has postponed the release of  A Hero’s Day until later on this year. 

Televised Mind is out now.