From the opening notes of Small Town Romance‘s new single ‘Home Fires‘ you’ll be hard pressed not to succumb to the warm and lilting tone of Flora Smith‘s lead vocal on this slow burning slice of dreamy twang and mesmerising country soul. It drifts along with one eye to to sky and the other grounded in life’s realities.

The song, from the Melbourne duo’s second album which is due out early in 2024, features the beautiful pedal steel of Shane Reilly (Lost Ragas) and the organ playing of Stevie Hesketh (Jet).

The video, directed & edited by Small Town Romance’s Jim Arneman, perfectly captures that feeling of slow wanderings and the intimate wonders of domestic life and one’s own private universe.

“I had written this song a long time before the last album actually. I wrote it in my early 20’s – long before I had any serious responsibilities in life – and is a quite judgemental song about people fantasising about running off from their families and partners,” explains Smith.

“Coming at it all these years later at a time in my life when I do have two kids and responsibilities, it’s been a huge shift in that process of growing up and becoming an adult. All of a sudden this fantasy of what it might feel like to just be myself, to be alone and away from that, sat really differently. The song became much more meaningful to us and resonated so much more now than it did when we wrote it,” she reveals. “It felt much more personal and much closer to my life now. This is about the moments we fantasise about – what could be – but also knowing that sometimes the costs are too high and so these fantasies remain.”

‘Home Fires’ is available now on Bandcamp and streaming services.

SINGLE LAUNCH

Sunday Sept 3rd – Shotkickers, Thornbury VIC w/ the Ironbark Brothers