‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ Single Review: Is It Time to Ask For More?

Fontaines D.C. is back, and they are keeping the recipe the same. Riding the coattails of their critically acclaimed summer album “Romance,” the Irish rock quintet returns with the release of a dreamily nostalgic new single that makes a statement: “It’s Amazing To Be Young.”

With the release of their recently Grammy-nominated fourth album in Aug. 2024, sonically, it became clear that the once gritty, post-punk band was heading in a new, more shimmery direction. “Romance” displayed a musical act that explored vibrant new sounds, but at its core remained true to itself. The band held onto their forceful guitar lines and reverb pedal while also producing a more contained and artistically refined sound. With their simplistic new single, it becomes clear that six months later, they are perhaps not ready to diverge from this summer’s newfound tone just yet.

The track keeps things simple. Its message blossoms from a place of mature wistfulness, while also crafting an optimistic ode to the youth. It centers itself around a rejection of the innate cynicism of adulthood, and it does so with very few, repeating lyrics. The verse comes around three times, never changing its message: “It’s the cost / That brings you down / But it’s amazing / To be young.” Lead vocalist Grian Chatten breathily whispers the lyrics each time, creating an atmospheric sensation, one that feels distant from the listener.

The vocals go hand in hand with the fuzzy, far-away guitar and drums. This dreamlike noise, a staple of Fontaines D.C.’s sound, creates a sonic environment that feels full, but difficult to get close to, and — at times — is difficult to continuously find interesting and exciting. The song can feel as though it’s getting lost inside of itself, jumbled together in one indecipherable noise. The repetition of verse and chorus, and the melodies that keep coming back around, do not help in categorizing the song as something sonically fascinating. The track seems to remain at one level, never aiming to head in any other directions or elevate itself. Right when you feel that things might change, the song simply circles back around, and returns to its noisy, blurred sound.

The track merely feels like a “Romance” outtake — one that emulates the overall sound of the album, but fails to make something exciting of itself. After a six-month break, is it safe to expect more out of the band? While the song is reminiscent of a Fontaines D.C. era that provoked high hopes for the group, it feels as though the band has failed to follow their upward trajectory and has returned to sit comfortably in the noisy, post-punk sound they know so well.

While this return could have been an opportunity to demonstrate a deeper cultivation of their musical identity, it seems that “It’s Amazing To Be Young” falls flat in its efforts to evoke a sound that is fresh and exciting. The single begs the question: How much should we be expecting out of artists? Should they be evolving, changing? Perhaps the answer lies right here, within what occurs when they do fail to create something new. Perhaps the answer is that they must change, as when they do not, it’s just boring. Terribly, terribly boring.