Six shot morning, it's a beautiful world

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

23/10/26 : Dopamine Chamber - Fontaines D.C.

Running a bit late because of a lovely break in Madris, this is our fourth visit with FDC and I've generally quite liked their stuff, so I'm interested enough to listen to this.

Yeah, this is a pretty strong effort. It's interesting that I'm currently listening to albums from '81 because there are strong 80s vibes on this - the first couple of tracks are very OMD-ish and after that it goes a bit darker a la Cure. It feels to be an album with depths so it's hard to know quite what to say about it after just the one listen, but it certainly feels like it would benefit from further visits. It was also interesting to see Rosalia pop up on "Where Is Gone?" with her and Grian's voices working well together - for some weird reason I got Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue vibes (this is not a bad thing btw). It's also got quite the album cover!

We are, of course for this year, at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week and the rest of the top five feature, of course for this year, Olivia Rodrigo, Michael Jackson and Olivia Dean with Sienna Spiro taking the bonus spare spot this week - interestingly, the #6 spot is the Fleetwood Mac best-of which has been flitting around in the #6-#11 slot since April. So what other new entries do we have this week?

Rachel Chinouriri (#9)
I admire Rachel's work rather than loving it - and it's the same story here, but there's no doubting the skill that's gone into putting this together. It's got more variety across the album than I was expecting and it's another one that feels it would benefit from multiple listens (but that's very unlikely, I'm afraid)

Zach Bryan (#11)
Well, it's certainly got an intriguing title - Young Manhood And Other Donatable Organs. And it's a little too "rough and ready" country for my liking - but I know he has plenty of fans, so he's probably not overly concerned about what I think. I will try to live with this state of affairs.

Nieve Ella (#31)
Never heard of her - I'm going for young female singer-songwriter. And she is, but she's a lot rockier than I was expecting - not what you'd think a 23 year old would come out with but I didn't mind it at all.

Richard Thompson (#40)
He's 77 and still going! And, to no-one surprise, he's still making RichardThompsonesque music - it doesn't quite hit the spot for me, but I guess his fans will like it (and there are plenty of 77 year olds making far worse stuff out there).

The Avalanches (#60)
And they formed in '97 and they're still going - but I do wonder how many people have listened to anything other than Since I Left You (I know haven't). And having listened to this, I can quite understand why - it was boring and amateur.

Ashe (#85)
Another young female singer-songwriter? Oh yes - she's like a slightly more chill Chappell Roan. I didn't mind it, but I suspect multiple listens would reduce my enjoyment because the potential for annoyance seems high. However, I have to admit that "Stop The Wedding" is pretty damn catchy.

Not so many this week, so we've got a bit of space for re-entries and so, obviously, the highest ones are Tears For Fears' '89 release The Seeds Of Love (#19) and Ash's '96 release 1977 (#26) - and I've no idea why either of them are back. There are a few more in the lower reaches of the chart but nothing we haven't seen a million times before - Fontaines D.C. (#87) is probably the least surprising. Last week I said that Jamie T would be at #58 and I was completely wrong because he was a one-and-done (and deservedly so - sorry Jamie) - there's no way FDC are going to suffer the same fate but I've no idea how well they'll do, so I'm going to randomly guess #13.

Wikipedia tells us this is their fifth album and it is "characterised by its alternative rock aesthetic" (what does that even mean?). There's quite a bit more text there but when you read it, all you really learn is that the album exists - it's impressively pointless. Critically, it has, to no-one surprise, been very well received but I am surprised at how well it's done commercially, getting to #1 in Australia, Belgium, Croatia, The Netherlands, Ireland and Switzerland, making the top five in a load of other places and getting to #14 in the US - well done lads!

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a version of this for as little as £12, but of course there are silly versions available for more cash if you need to lighten your wallet - there's a blue, pink and purple radial effect on black option for £100, a double 45 rpm deluxe gatefold option for £100, a blue option for £115, a red nebula option for £115, a blue marble option for £135 or a numbered first pressing for £149. Hold me back, people! I quite liked this on first listen but feel it deserves more and they've certainly done enough to take the album of the week award (I suspect we'll be seeing it in various year-end lists) but I'm also going to give Rachel Chinouriri a shout out for her effort because it's also an impressive piece of work.

16/10/26 - Nope