James White & The Wild Fire formed in Saffron Walden, Essex, in 2019, and built a quiet but real following through energetic live shows and a string of releases that hit number one on Amazon UK’s Folk and Country charts. Their debut EP, Making Tracks, the live record Live at Saffron Hall, and a 2023 cover of Little Maggie all charted at the top before the band went on hiatus following a sold-out hometown show in October of that year. Nearly three years later, they’re back with “Bonfire,” the lead single from their upcoming EP How To Replace Anxiety With A Broken Heart, due June 19th. James White has described this as possibly the band’s final release, which gives the whole thing a particular weight.
“Bonfire” was written in under thirty minutes in the immediate aftermath of an unexpected breakup, and it sounds exactly like that: unfiltered, and emotionally immediate. The song opens with a stripped-back arrangement, controlled and precise, before gradually escalating into something more forceful and unraveling. That structural arc, restraint giving way to intensity, mirrors the emotional experience it’s documenting better than any lyrical explanation could. The band, James White on vocals, lead guitar, mandolin, and banjo, Brooke Bond on double bass, Lee Dorrington on percussion, Joe Bailey on rhythm guitar, and Michael Furse-Phillips on violin, brings the full roots instrumentation to bear, and the psychedelic elements that define their sound sit underneath the track’s more direct emotional surface without overwhelming it.
It’s one of their most accessible songs, which is likely why it was chosen as the single over the more expansive material on the EP, but accessibility here doesn’t mean simplicity. The song carries real weight, and the cinematic music video directed by Adam Docker mirrors its emotional progression faithfully. If this is indeed the final chapter for the band, “Bonfire” is a strong way to re-enter and a harder one to walk away from.
