Photo Credit: Jen Squires

Fast Romantics release new single, “Smoke + Lightning”

Canadian Beats·September 6, 2023

Fast Romantics Release New Single & Video For “Smoke + Lightning” From New LP, Happiness + Euphoria Out On September 29, 2023

Fast Romantics offer up another provocative new single and video with, “Smoke + Lightning” taken from their September 29 scheduled new album, Happiness + Euphoria, released via Postwar Records.

Fast Romantics never shy away from exploring the complicated or the contemplative and it’s Kirty who takes the ethereal lead vocal, and offers the following insight to the track,

“Smoke + Lightning was written during a time that I felt like I was being swallowed up in the most vivid dreams every night,” she says. “It started to blur my waking hours with a twisted, colourful dream-life in my sleeping hours. This song is filled with stream-of-consciousness words and images that made up those dreams.”

“The song is based on a dream Kirt told me about one morning,” says Angus. “After she told me, I said, ‘Kirt, you’ve basically just described what happens in the Book of Revelation.’ Kirt’s not a biblical person, so she was like, ‘What’s that?’”

Fast Romantics have built a reputation as tenacious musical adventurers, working their way up the mountain of classic pop songwriting, eager to carve out a piece of it for themselves. The Toronto-based duo of Matthew Angus and Kirty – partners on and off stage, are bringing F.R. fans, ten sprawling new songs, masterfully crafted and equally and intentionally split into two distinct sides this fall.

Side “Euphoria,” was mixed by Los Angeles-based producer Dave Schiffman (The Killers, Haim) and is busting with jubilant pop anthems, as electric as ever and teeming with a renewed sense of self and purpose. Side “Happiness” was mixed by Marcus Paquin (The National, Arcade Fire) and is a lush, beautiful, lyrical collection of songs stirring up Angus’ most personal explorations to date. The duo has also revealed the album artwork.

They already released the “Euphoria,” video – an official visual pairing to the recently released radio single, and they then followed with the flip side of the coin with the “Happiness” video, bringing a full circle view to insidious implications, and what might be lurking behind the scenes in any euphoric comedown.

“The decision to let the album have this polarity, with two contrasting sides… it was more a reaction to what we realized these songs were about,” said Angus. “I think there are little slices of euphoria in every ideation of happiness, and little slivers of happiness in every euphoric experience. But the two emotions almost oppose each other at times, and then they kind of blur together. A lot of this album is just me trying to figure out what the two words even mean. Like so many of us, I’m always searching for meaning in all of the dumbest places… in careers, in pill bottles, in bedrooms, in wallets, in mirrors. I think that search over the last five years ended up defining these ten songs, and that’s why we picked them.”

The album was produced by Angus, but he and Kirty also undertook a unique approach to making a record. Later in the process, they connected with three close creative confidants to form what Angus called their “song senate” to bring additional production. It consisted of longtime collaborator Marcus Paquin, as well as two other key collaborators: their previous producer Gus Van Go (The Stills, Arkells, Sam Roberts), and the frontman/producer of celebrated band The Dears, Murray Lightburn.

“It was important to me that we brought in friends we trusted who could call bullshit on those moments when I was getting too indulgent or stuck,” Angus said, adding sheepishly, “I’ll admit that happens quite often. Those three saved my ass.”

Nick McKinlay and Jeffrey Lewis — longtime members of the band — also played key roles in defining the arrangements.