The magazine made by students for students
MAGAZINE
Contents page:
Article one - Fontaines D.C. [band analysis]
Article two - The Human Condition:
As Seen and Explored Through Literature [literature analysis]
By Zoé.M.Scott
Fontaines D C
Fontaines D.C. are an Irish post-punk band formed in Dublin in 2014. The band members met while attending music college and bonded over a common love of poetry. The band began self-releasing singles and performing live regularly, signing to Partistan Records in 2018.
Dogrel
They released singles such as “Liberty Belle” “Hurricane Laughter” and “Winter In The Sun in 2018. The song Liberty Belle was written from inspiration about the area of Dublin they were living at the time while still studying at BIMM, The Libertines. The band’s debut album
“Dogrel” was then then released on the 12th of April 2019; it was listed as Album of the Year on the record store Rough Trade’s website, voted Album of the Year by presenters on BBC
radio six music and was nominated for both the Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize. The singles released for the album were “Liberty Belle”” Hurricane Laughter” “Chequeless Reckless” “Too Real” “Big” “Roy’s Tune” and “Boys In The Better Land.”
A Hero’s Death
During multiple tours of Dogrel this was when Fontaines D.C began to write the material and piece together their next album “A Hero’s Death.” This was released on 31st of July 2020.
After the success of “Dogrel” the band were unexpected on what the reception to A Hero’s Death would be, but without fail there was another very positive response as they were nominated for Best Rock album at the Grammy Awards in 2021 but lost out to The Strokes’ “The New Abnormal.” The singles in the album were the title track “A Hero’s Death” the album opener “I Don’t Belong” “Televised Mind which featured on the sound track of the Netflix exclusive “Outerbanks.” And “A Lucid Dream.” The feature of Televised Mind in the show
Outerbanks was a real statement for Fontaines D.C. Although they had already been given confirmation and were well aware they’re a very tight nit band, this was
they were appreciated all over the world and also noticed by big producers and those at the top of the music and media industry.
Skinty
Fia
The band were consistently performing to the highest standard in all of their albums which was then channelled into their electric live shows. By this stage, Fontaines D.C had really discovered the pedal world and Carlos O’Connel and Conor Curly began to take it to the max. The introduction of tremolo and reverb to the two complimentary guitarists really began to give the band their sound. For example, the title track Skinty Fia was something completely new but it felt like we’d heard it before. This was because of Grian Chatten’s enthralling lyrics that like the two previous albums, you have to listen multiple times to really get a full
understanding of what he’s trying to explain and tell the listener. After the announcement of the album in January of 2022 it was released three months later on the 22nd of April. The
Al buM COVeRS
album gave the band a Brit Award for “Best International Group” at the 2023 Brit Awards and it was also nominated for “Album of the Year” at the Choice Music Prize for 2022. The band also won NME’s “Best Band In The World” award at the 2023 presentations.
Dogrel
Fontaines DC continue to be heavily interested in Irish literacy and old Irish art work and photos. This is seen throughout their song lyrics and their album covers and photos. For example, Dogrel’s front cover is a photo taken from an Irish circus from the 1950s. Before
Dogrel, during the early days of the band all t-shirts that they released also consisted of old Irish photographs.
Skinty Fia
Skinty Fia’s album cover is influenced by the title itself which translates to “The damnation of the deer”. This was suggested by the drummer Tom Coll who is originally from an all Irish speaking part of Ireland called Castlebar, County Mayo. Below are photos from the music videos of… “Jackie Down The Line” “I Love You” and “Couple Across The Way.”
THE HUMAN CONDITION: AS SEEN AND EXPLORED THROUGH LITERATURE
The Human Condition, most simply put, is “part of being a person”. However, this definition is in actuality: too simple. It doesn’t describe what exactly the human condition entails – whether it’s a good or bad condition, whether it’s something we are born with or something that is developed throughout our lives. The discrepancy between such a complicated, abstract concept and its bare bones definition, is something that has led to much research and analysis over the years – in a variety of fields.
It is seen in biology, psychology, philosophy, religion, art and perhaps most interestingly – through literature.
PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
One of the most notable explorations of what exactly the human condition is – and what it can lead someone to do – is Oscar Wilde’s 1890 “Picture of Dorian Gray”, which explores a sense of existentialism which overcomes the main character, Dorian Gray, after he is confronted with his own mortality.
The book itself contains a number of different undertones and themes, like that of homosexuality, love, class divide and the ignorance of youth, but most significantly are the themes of mortality and morality – which coexist, influencing one another repeatedly throughout the novel.
For instance, when Dorian is unaware of and therefore content with his mortality, he is described as “charming” and as having astounding “beauty”, yet the moment he sees his finished portrait – he is “jealous of everything whose beauty does not die”. This is the start of his descent, marking the moment he becomes immortal, as well as the moment he begins to become cruel.
Therefore, amongst other themes and ideas, it can be assumed that the human condition, in Wilde’s case, is arisen from the acceptance of a person’s own mortality – the way in which they deal with such reflecting in their morality; without mortality, a person could not have morals at all – and therefore cannot be considered human.
STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
Another example of the human condition in literature would be Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, published four years prior in 1886. This story also explores themes of morality – but delves into Dr Jekyll’s desire to separate the negative aspects of the human condition from the positive.
To do this, Jekyll splits his very being in two – creating his cruel alter ego: Mr Hyde. Hyde represents the amalgamation of all things cruel and unjust, described as having “something wrong with his appearance, something displeasing, something downright detestable”. To put it simply, everyone who comes into contact with Hyde sees him as being uncanny – frightening in a way that feels oddly familiar, inhuman but unbelievably similar to one.
The focus here is him being inhuman due to being entirely comprised of terrible morals, suggesting that by lacking moral goodness, a person can not be considered human. However, Jekyll also suffers greatly from this, becoming a shell of who he was and eventually losing himself entirely, getting trapped in his Hyde form – all due to the fact that his experiment was a failure. He was unable to separate his good side in the way he did his bad, resulting in his bad side (Hyde) committing suicide.
This in turns makes Stevenson’s interpretation of the human condition, or what makes a person human, more complex –as it implies it is impossible to be human while also being completely good, while it is possible to be at least somewhat human and completely bad. This is, a rather dire interpretation of what the “human condition” is, and so it must also be
understood that morality isn’t always about person’s inherent but about how they choose
By
Zoé.M.Scott
FRANKENSTEIN
Another novel, from the same century, is Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”published first in 1818, then rewritten and published again in 1831. The exploration of Victor Frankenstein’s mindset – which influences the creation, and rejection, of the creature he creates in man’s image – is significant to the concept of the human condition.
This novel, at a surface level glance, may be thought to be implying that to be considered human, and of the human condition, one must be born human. On gaining a deeper understanding, however, the creature can be instead interpreted as a human mind and soul which is scorned and isolated due to his monstrous appearance.
In this sense, while Victor does display human nature through his mistakes and hubris, the creature is the most thorough exploration of what being human means – and how human influence is what makes the monster at first appear human, implying the isolation inflicted on the monster would turn any other person into the “daemon” and “fiend” he becomes.
Therefore, it could be assumed that to be afflicted by the human condition, is to be born innocent and ignorant of the evils of the world (such as poverty and famine) – only to then be corrupted by society through negative experiences, and most interestingly, through knowledge and desire.
ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE
The final example of an attempt to understand human nature, and more specifically the human condition, through literature is a single extremely famous excerpt from Shakespeare’s 1603 play, “As You Like It”. This excerpt is a speech made by the character Jacques known as “All the world’s a stage”, in which he likens life to a performance, and all the people as “merely players”.
The contents of this speech go over stages of a human life as if they are set in stone, to follow in line with his metaphor, as if leach life is a prewritten script waiting to be read. It suggests a sense of fate that is unable to be altered – a common theme in another of his works, Macbeth. This as a result can create a sense of hopelessness for life – amplified by the implication that death brings “second childishness and mere oblivion”.
In spite of this sombre interpretation, it can also be seen as an analogy for the desire to find meaning in such a small allocated space of time, a feeling of which is harboured by every person. “The meaning of life” is something that is often debated in every aspect of life, it can spark joy in some people and despair in others – and is the driving force behind almost every action we as people take.
This, in conclusion, is Shakespeare’s interpretation of the human condition – the desire to find meaning in being human. In fact, the desire to find this meaning, is so strong – that each one of these authors and writers pursued it actively through their literature, studying what makes a person “human”, what causes “the human condition” as we know it, while actively displaying it themselves; whether they were aware of it or not.
