Fontaines D.C.: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It’s the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. Ann Powers | May 17, 2022 Filmed in Chicago’s beautiful brick Irish American Heritage Center during a recent tour, this four-song set begins with Fontaines D.C. singer Grian Chatten in the stacks at the center’s library, playing a button accordion and singing the mordant ballad “The Couple Across the Way” as cellist Maureen Dunne and violist Isaac Henry accompany him. An emotional touchstone on the band’s latest album, “Skinty Fia,“ it’s a taste of an unfinished Fontaines project: the Irish group originally planned to release a double set with half traditionally-styled tunes and half the searing, atmospheric post-punk that makes this third LP the band’s best. But we won’t stay here in the quiet, unsettled heart.