“This Fire” by Birds of Tokyo

"This Fire" pulled double duty for Birds of Tokyo: the Australian alternative rock band made it the title track of their third EP, then slotted it second on their fourth studio album, March Fires, in 2013. Ian Berney remembered it as one of the easiest songs he ever helped write, the chorus arriving in a single night with five guys huddled around one acoustic guitar, bellowing it out and getting giddy about it. In his reading, the lyrics pin the blame for the urban wreckage we've made squarely on ourselves.

Dave Cooley produced, Tony Hoffer mixed, and the five of them, Berney, Ian Kenny, Glenn Sarangapany, Adam Spark and Adam Weston, share the writing credit. It turned into their set closer, too: Berney said they end nearly every show with it. The EP, helped along by the song's sales, went gold in 2013.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.