The Dublin band’s first guest feature on a studio album is out now, four days ahead of Dopamine Chamber.
Fontaines D.C. have shared ‘Where Is Gone?’, the song featuring Rosalía from their fifth album Dopamine Chamber, which is out this Friday (October 16th) via XL Recordings. It is the first time Fontaines have had a guest artist on one of their studio albums, and the collaboration was revealed with the tracklist last month.
The song has a classic windswept duet feel to it, like 1967’s Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Some Velvet Morning’, or PJ Harvey and Nick Cave’s ‘Henry Lee’.
It’s a song about love as image and memory. The opening verse sets a loved one’s face in a picture frame, treats love as worth only what you pay for it, and puts all of that against a rainy day in the head.Rosalía opens the second verse by doubting the picture frame, and the song moves to a man who comes to tell you you’re not alone, a dark room on the brightest day and a dirty trick.
How it came together
According to a report of the band’s Sunday Times interview, Fontaines approached Rosalía late in the process, sent her a selection of songs and let her choose. She picked “Where Is Gone?” and recorded her part just four days before they finished the album.
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Guitarist Carlos O’Connell, who was born in Spain before moving to Ireland as a child, told triple j that he has admired Rosalía since her 2017 debut Los Ángeles, and sees a shared impulse in keeping their countries’ musical traditions alive. He also draws a parallel between what she did for Spain and what the band did for Ireland, in “opening the floodgates”.
Produced by James Ford, ‘Where Is Gone?’ O’Connell says. “I’ve been a fan of ROSALÍA since her debut album, which was absolutely beautiful,” he says. “What really excited me was how she was keeping a Spanish tradition of music alive, which in a spiritual way felt akin to what we’ve tried to do with Irish music. For someone with roots in both countries, it’s been beautiful to see. She’s an artist who’s blown me away at every stage since.”
Rosalía has had a busy week. She played two songs from Lux on Saturday Night Live at the weekend, one of them sung en pointe, the other in the rain, shortly after the Lux tour finished in Miami in September.
Dopamine Chamber
“Where Is Gone?” is the eighth of the album’s 11 tracks. Dopamine Chamber was produced by James Ford and follows 2024’s Romance. Grian Chatten has described the album as a place you step into, where the band test “different mind or mood-altering pieces of music” on you, and said it needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning than Romance did. The album was recorded across London, the English countryside and Palermo, where Chatten recorded his vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.
The singles so far are “Marianne”, which we covered when the album was announced, and “Tongue”. The full tracklist is “Six Shot Morning”, “Marianne”, “Mimesis”, “Happy For You”, “Demolition”, “Tongue”, “One Man”, “Where Is Gone?” (with Rosalía), “You Miss Me”, “Japan” and “Intimate”.
The band play London’s Roundhouse this Thursday (October 15th) in aid of CALM, the eve of the album’s release, before a European run that includes Madrid on October 22nd and Barcelona on October 24th. They also headline Slane Castle next summer, with a second night added after the first sold out on presale demand.
Fontaines D.C. – ‘Where Is Gone?’ with Rosalía
Verse 1: Grian Chatten & ROSALÍA]
The face you pull with pervert lines
The perfect way to say “I love you”
On a rainy day in my head
The picture frame, it shows your face
It’s only worth what you pay in this world
[Pre-Chorus: ROSALÍA & Grian Chatten]
I could care less, so careless
But baby, when you smile
[Chorus: Grian Chatten & ROSALÍA]
I remember when
They held me up against the summertime
And the tears would fall, baby, if you’d try
There’s no harm in saying, “Leave it, let it die”
I remember when
Thеy held me up to the sunshinе
Until I called, “Baby, if it’s real
There’s no way I’m going back to how I feel”
[Verse 2: ROSALÍA, ROSALÍA & Grian Chatten, Grian Chatten]
The picture frame is surely wrong
A certain man will come and tell you
That you’re not alone at all
The darkest room
On the brightest day
One dirty trick
[Pre-Chorus: Grian Chatten & ROSALÍA]
And we’re away forever
Not a rainy day in sight
[Chorus: Grian Chatten & ROSALÍA]
I remember when
They held me up against the summertime
And the tears would fall, baby, if you try
There’s no harm in saying, “Leave it, let it die”
I remember when
They held me up to the sunshine
Until I called, “Baby, if it’s real
There’s no way I’m going back to how I feel
[Outro: Grian Chatten]
So, where is gone?
And why don’t I know?
It’s just the start
Of another show to hurt you
And make you feel alive
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
