Dublin post-punk band Fontaines D.C. release their fifth studio album, “Dopamine Chamber”, on 16 October 2026 through XL Recordings. The band confirmed the album on 18 August 2026 and issued the lead single “Marianne” the same day, with an official video directed by Dave Meyers and Cam Erickson.

The album runs to eleven tracks. Only two titles are public so far: “Marianne”, which sits second, and the opener “Six Shot Morning”, which the band played live in Cádiz before the announcement. The full tracklist has not been published, and the band’s own release page still lists it as coming.

James Ford produced ‘Dopamine Chamber’ in London and Palermo

James Ford produced the record, as he did on “Romance” in 2024. Sessions moved between London, the English countryside and Palermo, where Grian Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions. The label describes the result as a move away from guitars toward cold synthesiser tones, marching drums, samples and triggers, with several songs carrying no guitar at all.

Chatten describes the album as a device rather than a set of songs: “The album itself is a dopamine chamber. You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”

He measures the shift against the previous record in the same terms the band used for it. “I think “Romance” was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling… This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted – the mask is wearing the face a little more.” On the decision to strip out the consolation the earlier album ended on, he said: “I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”

Bassist Conor Deegan III places the record in a run of albums built around location. “Our albums have always questioned a sense of place. First Dublin, then being away from Dublin, and then trying to find the romance elsewhere. On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?” Guitarist Conor Curley describes his own brief in one line: “I was trying to find stuff that pointed into the future.”

“Dopamine Chamber” comes in six physical editions. The deluxe version is a double LP cut at 45rpm on black vinyl in a gatefold jacket with printed innersleeves, a printed insert and a poster. There are single LPs on blue and on black vinyl, both gatefold with a printed innersleeve and insert, a blue marble pressing sold as an indie-store exclusive, a CD in a gatefold digipak, and a cassette with alternate artwork and a foldout J-card. Pre-orders run through the band’s own store, the XL Recordings shop, Bandcamp and independent retailers.

Fontaines D.C. live dates in 2026

The dates listed alongside the announcement are the band’s existing summer and autumn festival commitments rather than an album tour. A separate headline run tied to “Dopamine Chamber” has not been announced.

• 18 August 2026 – Lausanne, Les Docks, Switzerland
• 20 August 2026 – Sankt Polten, FM4 Frequency, Austria
• 28 August 2026 – Reading, Reading Festival, UK
• 29 August 2026 – Leeds, Leeds Festival, UK
• 30 August 2026 – Stradbally, Electric Picnic, Ireland
• 18 September 2026 – Atlanta, GA, Shaky Knees, USA
• 20 September 2026 – Asbury Park, NJ, Sea.Hear.Now, USA
• 27 September 2026 – Dana Point, CA, Ohana Festival, USA

About Fontaines D.C.

Fontaines D.C. formed in Dublin in 2014, after the five members met at BIMM Dublin. The line-up has been unchanged since: Grian Chatten on vocals, Carlos O’Connell and Conor Curley on guitars, Conor Deegan III on bass and Tom Coll on drums. The band signed to Partisan Records in 2018.

The debut album “Dogrel” came out on 12 April 2019, produced by Dan Carey, and was nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize. Carey also produced “A Hero’s Death”, released on 31 July 2020, which entered the UK chart at No. 2 and brought a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album and a Brit nomination for International Group. The third album, “Skinty Fia”, followed on 22 April 2022, again with Carey, and gave the band their first No. 1 in both Ireland and the UK; they won the Brit Award for International Group in 2023.

“Romance”, released on 23 August 2024, was their first record for XL Recordings and their first with producer James Ford. It entered the UK chart at No. 2, gave the band their first Billboard 200 entry and their first UK singles chart placing with “Starburster”, and won International Group of the Year at the 2025 Brit Awards. A deluxe edition followed in 2025.

More recently the band contributed to the Peaky Blinders: Immortal Man soundtrack and to War Child’s charity compilation “HELP(2)”, which was released on 6 March 2026 and carries tracks by both the band and Chatten solo. In August 2026 they played the final live session recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios for 6 Music, their first performance since the death of their manager Trevor Dietz. “Dopamine Chamber” is their second album for XL Recordings and their first release since “Romance”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com