Skinty Fia, the title of the much-anticipated third album by Fontaines D.C, translates to English as “the damnation of the deer.” “But ‘skinty fia’ is also used as an expletive, in the way you’d say ‘For fuck’s sake’ if you bang your arm on a table or whatever. We just thought there was something really beautiful about that, because it’s really representative of Irish culture in some sense,” explains bassist Conor Deegan III aka Deego. Indeed, and the band’s thoughts on Irish identity are crucial to Skinty Fia as they have relocated from their home country. 2019’s Dogrel was mostly set in Dublin and was littered with snapshots of the city’s characters. By contrast, their markedly different 2020 follow-up A Hero’s Death was largely written on tour and documented the dislocation and disconnection the band felt from Ireland as they had new adventures around the globe. This time, they’re addressing their Irishness from afar as they recreate new lives for themselves elsewhere and try to resolve the need to broaden their horizons with the affection they still clearly feel for the land and people they’ve left behind. The album’s bigger sound and reach should also see them consolidate and broaden their impact in the USA, where A Hero’s Death reached No. 2 in the Heatseekers album chart, brought about the band’s second performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and saw them become only the second Irish band in Grammy history to garner a rock category nomination for Best Rock Album.