Over the last two years, the Dublin post-punk/garage rock quintet Fontaines D.C. have been steadily gaining more notoriety thanks to a buzzy run of singles and the strength of their live shows. After signing to Partisan, there were rumblings of an impending debut album. And today, just a couple weeks out from the band’s first Stateside gigs, Fontaines D.C. have officially announced that album. It’s called Dogrel, and it’ll arrive in April.

Dogrel will collect the band’s previous singles, placing them alongside like-minded bursts of raw energy like “Big” and “Sha Sha Sha,” as well as songs that flesh out other parts of the band’s identity, including the melancholic “Roy’s Tune” or “The Lotts.” When we named Fontaines D.C. a Band To Watch earlier this year, they explained a bit of the meaning behind the title Dogrel and what it says about the album. Taken from a form of poetry once popular in Ireland — a form that was rough around the edges, working class, and often met with derision by establishment critics — “Dogrel” alludes to the particular mixture Fontaines are chasing in their music: the high-minded literary influences mixed with the colloquialisms of pub talk in Dublin, or the cerebral nature of their writing mixed with furious, drunken, immediate instrumentals.

Along with the announcement, Fontaines have shared “Big,” which serves as Dogrel’s opener and something of a feint and mission statement at once. “Dublin in the rain is mine,” Grian Chatten proclaims at the beginning, like a curtain rising on the homeland Fontaines intend to depict across the album. “My childhood was small/ But I’m gonna be big!” he declares repeatedly from there, over the course of a frenzied song that’s in and out in less than two minutes. It comes across like the kind of swaggering bluster of a young band who knows they have things to say, who want to seize the world. As fervent an opening salvo as you could ask for.

Of course, read any interview with these guys and you’ll know that, first off, there’s usually always another meaning and, perhaps more importantly, they’d greet such sentiments with a bit of skepticism. “Big” comes with a video directed by Molly Keane, featuring a child making his way down Dublin’s Moore Street mouthing along to the lyrics. And the band’s description suggests they might regard the rallying cry of “Big” with suspicion, if not outright disgust. “We felt that great ambition was a sickness,” they said of the clip. “And we got Grian’s 11-year-old next-door neighbor to say it to you all because he’s got the presence of a hundred frontmen.” Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Big”
02 “Sha Sha Sha”
03 “Too Real”
04 “Television Screen”
05 “Hurricane Laughter”
06 “Roy’s Tune”
07 “The Lotts”
08 “Chequeless Reckless”
09 “Liberty Belle”
10 “Boys In The Better Land”
11 “Dublin City Sky”

TOUR DATES:
02/07 – Besancon, FR @ Génériq Festival
02/08 – Grenoble, FR @ La Bobine
02/09 – Lyon, FR @ Le Sonic
02/10 – Dijon, FR @ Génériq Festival
03/07 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool (SOLD OUT)
03/08 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
03/11-03/16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
04/11 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla (SOLD OUT)
04/12 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club (SOLD OUT)
04/13 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla (SOLD OUT)
04/14 – Glasgow, UK @ King Tuts (SOLD OUT)
04/16 – Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms (SOLD OUT)
04/17 – London, UK @ The Garage (SOLD OUT)
04/18 – Brighton, UK @ The Haunt (SOLD OUT)
04/19 – Diksmuide, BE @ 4AD (Friday)
04/20 – Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaique Festival
04/22 – Paris, FR @ Le Point Ephemere
04/24 – Valencia, ES @ El Loco
04/25 – Madrid, ES @ Siroco
04/26 – San Sebastian, ES @ Dabadaba
05/05 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings Barcade * (SOLD OUT)
05/06 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry *
05/07 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery * (SOLD OUT)
05/08 – Albany, NY @ The Hollow *
05/10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel * (SOLD OUT)
05/11 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel * (SOLD OUT)
05/12 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel *  (SOLD OUT)
05/14 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
05/16 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar *
05/17 – Dallas, TX @ The Curtain Club *
05/18 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda * (SOLD OUT)
05/20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar *  (SOLD OUT)
05/21 – San Diego, CA @ Belly Up *
05/22 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda *
05/24 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
05/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall * (SOLD OUT)
05/27 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom * (SOLD OUT)
05/28 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s * (SOLD OUT)
05/31 – Neustrelitz, DE @ Immergut Festival
06/01 – Nimes, FR @ This is Not A Love Song Festival
07/04 – 07/06 – Catalonia, ES @ Vilanova i la Geltrú’s International Festival
07/13 – Glasgow, UK @ TRNSMT Festival
07/20 – Carhaix-Plouguer, FR @ Les Vieilles Charrues
07/26 – Oxford, UK @ Truck Festival
07/27 – Rainton, UK @ Deer Shed Festival
07/28 – Pikehall, UK @ Y Not Festival
08/29 – 09/01 – Wiltshire, UK @ End of The Road Festival 
11/19 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz 
11/20 – Liverpool, UK @ O2 Academy
11/21 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG 3
11/22 – Leeds, UK @ Stylus
11/23 – Sheffield, UK @ Leadmill
11/25 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
11/26 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy 
11/27 – London, UK @ O2 Forum 
11/28 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 
11/30 – Bristol, UK @ SWX 
12/01 – Southampton, UK @ The 1865

* = supporting Idles

CREDIT: Richard Dumas

Dogrel is out 4/12 via Partisan. Pre-order it here.