I just love Fontaines D.C., who’ve become one of my favorite bands over the past couple of years. Formed in 2016 in Dublin, Ireland (the D.C. in their name stands for Dublin City, to differentiate them from another band named the Fontaines) but now based in London, England, they consist of the dangerously charismatic Grian Chatten (vocals), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan III (bass), Tom Coll (drums) and Carlos O’Connell (guitar). Their latest single “It’s Amazing To Be Young” rises to #1 this week, making it their third song in a year to top my chart. Their song “Starburster” is my #1 song of 2024, with “Favourite” not far behind at #8.

Written and performed by all members of the band, and arranged, produced and mixed by James Ford, “It’s Amazing To Be Young” was inspired by the birth of band guitarist Carlos O’Connell’s first child. Bassist Conor Deegan III elaborated about the song for Genius: “It sounded more like a lullaby or a music box, but with the same lyric ‘it’s amazing to be young’. The feeling of hope a child can give is profound and moving, especially for young men like us. That sense of wanting to create a world for them to grow up in happily. It’s a feeling that fights against the cynicism that can often overtake us in the modern world. So we wanted to declare which side we were on – it really is amazing to be young. We are still free, and want to make that feeling spread. We want to protect it for the others around us, and maybe in doing that, can also help protect it for ourselves.

The video for this song was directed by one of our favourite collaborators Luna Carmoon. Luna has a very visual ear and found a way to bring out the world of our songs, somehow making the feelings more clear and more dreamlike at the same time. This video in particular has many special moments, but I think the way it unifies the different characters together is brilliant, because it embodies the message of not just the song but the album- youth is magical, and stories can become interwoven unexpectedly and feel like worlds colliding. That is youth, that is young love, and I think oftentimes that is romance.”

The video’s fairly long with a few breaks in the song, so here’s an audio video if you’d like to just hear the song itself:

Two songs blast their way into the top 10 this week: the bittersweet folk rock beauty “Nothing I Need” by Lord Huron (which is currently #1 on the Billboard AAA chart, with “It’s Amazing To Be Young at #2) jumps eight spots to #3, while sombr’s cinematic “back to friends” (which sits at #2 on the Alternative Airplay chart) leaps 10 spots to #6.

There are two new debuts again this week, the first of which is “What Was That” by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, who became famous in 2013 at the age of 16 for her monster worldwide hit “Royals”. It’s her first new music since her 2021 album Solar Power (though she did release a single of her cover of “Take Me to the River” that she contributed to the 2024 album Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense). The song is the lead single from her fourth album Virgin, set to be released on June 27, and it’s nice to have her back! The second debut, entering at #30, is the endearing “Moody” by Australian guitar-pop duo Royel Otis, which I featured in a recent Fresh New Tracks post. Their marvelous cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dance Floor” is my #4 song of 2024.

1. IT’S AMAZING TO BE YOUNG – Fontaines D.C. (2)
2. WALLS – Frank Joshua (1)
3. NOTHING I NEED – Lord Huron (11)
4. THE TURNAROUND – DelCobras (5)
5. LAREDO – Leon Bridges (6)
6. BACK TO FRIENDS – sombr (16)
7. MORTAL WOUND – The Veils (4)
8. BAD LARRY – Cloakroom (3)
9. SNAKESKIN – NAVE (9)
10. POOR SAD INDIE EVERYTHING – Icarus Phoenix (10)
11. ARCHBISHOP HAROLD HOLMES – Jack White (12)
12. BARBARIAN – AWOLNATION (13)
13. PORCELAIN (LOSING ALL MY PATIENCE) – Somebody’s Child (14)
14. LET THINGS GO – Caamp (15)
15. THE NIGHT BEFORE – The Black Keys (7)
16. TIME WAITED – My Morning Jacket (8)
17. BASIC BEING BASIC – Djo (18)
18. THREE SIX FIVE – Shinedown (19)
19. EVERYTHING IS PEACEFUL LOVE – Bon Iver (20)
20. CATCH THESE FISTS – Wet Leg (22)
21. SO LONG – Wavves (21)
22. RITALIN – Dexter and The Moonrocks (24)
23. SPACEMAN IN TULSA – Counting Crows (25)
24. ANKLES – Lucy Dacus (17)
25. SCARS – Secret Postal Society (28)
26. FEELS RIGHT – Talk in Waves (29)
27. BONNET OF PINS – Matt Berninger (30)
28. METAVERSE – Cage the Elephant (23)
29. WHAT WAS THAT – Lorde (N)
30. MOODY – Royel Otis (N)