Both the star-studded ‘Help(2)’ charity album for War Child and the soundtrack to the new Peaky Blinders movie have dropped today (Friday March 6), and each contain multiple new tracks from Fontaines D.C. and Grian Chatten – check all the new releases below.
Today sees the long awaited ‘Help(2)’ album released, which comes in aid of the War Child charity and will raise funds for young people whose lives have been affected by war and conflict.
The record comes following the original ‘Help’ record for War Child, which was released in 1995 with Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Orbital, Portishead, and more, and, this time around, huge names involved include Beabadoobee, Beck, Portishead‘s Beth Gibbons, Cameron Winter, Depeche Mode, Wolf Alice‘s Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Greentea Peng, Olivia Rodrigo, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg, The Smiths‘ icon Johnny Marr, Young Fathers, and many more.
One of the first tracks to be shared ahead of today’s full-album release was the collaboration between Fontaines’ frontman Chatten, Blur and Gorillaz icon Damon Albarn, and songwriter/poet Kae Tempest. Titled ‘Flags’, the stirring track centres around a piano melody and features additional contributions from Johnny Marr, Dave Okumu, Adrian Utley (Portishead), Gorillaz’ bassist Seye Adelekan, and Ezra Collective’s Femi Koleoso, as well as a 43-piece children’s choir.
Later on that album, Chatten joined up with his Fontaines bandmates for a powerful cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s 1990 protest song, ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’, having previously shared acoustic rendition of the track in Nashville, Tennessee, in October 2022.
The band shared that it was a “unique and life-affirming experience” to take on the track for ‘Help(2)’, and producer James Ford spoke to NME in a step-by-step guide to the record, and explained why it felt right to cover Sinead O’Connor.
“Sinead was on the first ‘Help’ record and was such an icon of Irish music. A lot of her lyrics and the things she stood for seem to be pretty relevant to what’s happening now, unfortunately,” he said. “This seemed very apt and fitting as the cover they chose. They did a great version, and I love all the weird Velvet Underground-y strings. They brought a bit of gravitas to it.”
Fontaines also lent their work to the soundtrack to the new Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man film, and last month the first taster of the record dropped when the new trailer arrived, and featured the soundtrack’s lead single ‘Puppet’ by Chatten.
Score composers Martin Slattery and Antony Genn also worked with Grian on other songs on the soundtrack including tracks called ‘Opium Dreams’, ‘Black Dahlia’, and ‘The Tunnel’, ‘Medusa’, ‘Ellipsis’ and ‘Beckett Tests Duke’.
Fontaines’ Carlos O’Connell also worked with the two composers on a song called ‘Confession’, and Grian also dropped a new collaboration for the record – ‘Hunting The Wren’ with Lankum – and shared a stirring cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Angel’ too.
The band’s title track from their ‘Romance’ album also features on the soundtrack of the new film, and speaking to NME, Slattery and Genn said that they wanted the members to be involved because they “absolutely fucking love Fontaines”.
“We had this idea for them to on the film and then they went and became absolutely fucking globally massive. We didn’t have much time and we were lucky,” said Genn. “The music gods have got to shine on you and often they don’t. I’m constantly fascinated and mesmerised by the personality of musicians and what they bring to this.”
They also added that the frontman fit with Peaky Blinders because “he’s an edgy fucker” with “a lot more going on behind the eyes”. Check out a list of all Fontaines and Grian Chatten songs that have been shared today as part of the ‘Help(2)’ and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man soundtrack.
Fontaines D.C. and Grian Chatten songs arriving today are:
‘Help(2)’
‘Flags’ – Grian Chatten, Damon Albarn and Kae Tempest
‘Black Boys On Mopeds’ – Fontaines D.C.
‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’ soundtrack:
‘Opium Dreams’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
‘Black Dahlia’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
‘Beckett Tests Duke’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
‘Puppet’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
‘Confession’ – Antony Genn, Martin Slattery & Carlos O’Connell
‘Romance’ – Fontaines D.C.
‘Angel’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
‘The Tunnel’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
‘Medusa’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
‘Hunting The Wren (The Immortal Man Version)’ – Lankum & Grian Chatten
‘Ellipsis’ – Grian Chatten, Antony Genn & Martin Slattery
As well as Chatten and O’Connell, other artists on the Peaky Blinders film soundtrack include Nick Cave – who has recorded a new version of the show’s theme song ‘Red Right Hand’ – as well as Girl In The Year Above, who covered Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’. As aforementioned, Lankum have also contributed, as have Welsh hardcore band Mclusky have recorded ‘People Person’. Check out the full tracklist here.
Leading man Cillian Murphy is a longtime fan of Fontaines D.C., having been to the intimate launch show for their 2024 album ‘Romance’, and saying last month that he is “just a fanboy” of them.
The new Peaky Blinders movie is in cinemas now, and will arrive on Netflix on March 20.
