Skinty Fia is an Irish phrase which translates to English as “the damnation of the deer” and the album’s cover art features a deer, plucked from its natural habitat and deposited in the hallway of a home, illuminated by an artificial red glow. The Irish giant deer is an extinct species and the band’s thoughts on Irish identity are central to Skinty Fia. While Dogrel was littered with snapshots of the Dublin characters -  like the cabbie in “Boys In The Better Land” - and A Hero’s Death documented the dislocation and disconnection the band felt as they traveled the globe on tour, on Skinty Fia Fontaines D.C. are addressing their Irishness from afar as they recreate new lives for themselves elsewhere. For a band whose hometown courses through their veins -  “D.C.” stands for “Dublin City” - the album finds them trying to resolve the need to broaden their horizons with the affection they still feel for the land and people they’ve left behind.

Since they formed, Brighton’s PROJECTOR have stubbornly gone their own way. Bringing angular industrial drum machines to hook laden alt-rock, and lush melody to frenzied post-punk, the band have never hesitated to prioritise sonic breadth and an experimental attitude to pop. It’s this confidence in craft that have lead them to tour Europe with rock giants Cleopatrick while simultaneously haunting the airplay of BBC Radio 6’s left field Steve Lamacq and Amy Lamé shows.

PROJECTOR deal in nuance of expression and the true insanity and grit of modern life, psyche and politics (although they don’t like to talk about lyrics.) With the same attitude to recording, PROJECTOR have kept a firm grip over their creative output by producing and recording themselves for the last few years.

PROJECTOR’s debut album ‘NOW WHEN WE TALK IT’S VIOLENCE’ moves effortlessly between artful derangement, aggression and the pop hooks that have regularly seen the band gatecrash the mainstream rock scene. At times it’s drenched in the dark, industrial brutalism of Joy Division, at others it’s a spectacular of hyperactive, Squid-flavoured rant-pop. The album features climaxes that stagger into acid-soaked country, warped with drum machines and lush harmonies, before leaping into blisteringly paranoid Incesticide-era grunge, topped with melting Lana Del Rey-flavour choruses.

Above all, the band’s tightly wound intensity drives the album with the strange fervour of early Pixies that reflects the energy of their live show. PROJECTOR will celebrate their debut with a UK and EU tour, starting February 2024.

Mounts. The sound of empty high streets. It's art. It's marvellous.

LONDON

All enquiries - dominic@takeapartyourhead.co.uk

Alternative music and culture for the North of England and worldwide.


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