"This was written at a cottage in the English countryside in winter where we had gone on a writing retreat to escape the noise of London," the Staves' Jessica and Camilla Staveley say of their new song, "Sitting By the Fire," out today. "On a cigarette break, Jessica went outside in the dark and could see Camilla through the window, sat at the fireplace writing a song. The song is a photograph of sorts, capturing that moment. We recorded this after we had cut the record [All Now] out in LA. We were back in London and revisited this tune and we felt that it would really be perfect to have [our sister] Emily join us on it to lend her voice to this a cappella recording." You can hear it here:

Released earlier this year, the Staves’ All Now, produced by John Congleton (Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen), marks the band’s debut album as the duo of Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor, following their sister Emily’s departure. “There was a delayed reaction to trauma and these big changes out of your control,” Jess says of the period after the February 2021 release of their album Good Woman, as the band—like everyone—was forced to sit with their thoughts. Struggling after two years of deep solitude and pain, The Staves did what they know how to do best: they got back to writing with the idea of going back to basics and focusing almost solely on each other and their guitars as a starting point. You can get the album and hear it here.