Formed in 2016, North Wales-quintet Campfire Social are a band with a long back-story, many of the members met at school, and then played together in previous project, Shy & the Fight. Back in 2017 the band released their debut EP, Wellbeing, which saw singles A-listed by BBC Wales. Since then they’ve gone on to play festivals across the UK, and were all set to go to SXSW 2020, prior to its Covid-19 related postponement. The band are currently gearing up to the release of their new EP, Everything Changed, and are today premiering their new single, It’s Not Goodbye (To Those We Left Behind).

It’s Not Goodbye (To Those We Left Behind) seems to pick up from the band’s previous material, offering a message of hope, tinged with a hint of underlying sadness and sentimentality. If it’s thematically similar ground, musically it feels like a real departure, the sound of a band focusing in, and knowing exactly where the music is going next.

The track bounds in on a distorted, bouncing guitar-line, before the lush two-part harmonies send the song into distinctly indie-pop influenced territory, channelling equal measures of Idlewild and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. From there the track moves into the lush one line chorus, “who are you writing songs for anyway?”, before taking a rapid turn into a gorgeous break-down resplendent with distant melancholic brass flourishes, swelling to an emotive crescendo of yelped vocals and clattering drums. Accompanied by an excellent home-made, cardboard friends and social-isolation inspired video, this feels like an exciting new chapter for Campfire Social, less a goodbye and more an open armed welcome back to a band well worthy of your attention.

It’s Not Goodbye (To Those We Left Behind) is out now via Mai 68 Records. Click HERE for more information on Campfire Social.