Feature: Vacation Manor on Finding Beauty in Stillness & the Emotional Landmarks of Their ‘Back to Town’ EP

Vacation Manor’s Nathan Towles and Cole Young unpack their tender, charming, and deeply intimate ‘Back to Town’ EP, a warm and wistful collection that captures life’s quiet transformations with grace and honesty. From fatherhood and anxiety to nostalgia and the ache of growing older, the Virginia indie rock duo reflect on six personal landmarks in a moving meditation on change, presence, and connection.

Stream: “Casio Cure” – Vacation Manor

I’m not going anywhere easy… when the only heart you’ve got takes a beating, I’ll be here ‘til the damage is done.

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It’s a quiet promise, tucked inside the gentle refrain of “Damage Is Done,” but it carries the weight of the entire record. Vacation Manor’s new EP Back to Town isn’t just a reflection on growing up – it’s a love letter to the present moment, and a meditation on what it means to stay grounded through life’s fast-moving seasons. From sleepless nights and intrusive thoughts to old haunts and first steps, these songs find beauty in stillness, ache in motion, and meaning in the everyday. Back to Town is Vacation Manor at their most vulnerable and assured – a warm, wistful, and deeply human portrait of change, connection, and acceptance.

Back to Town - Vacation Manor — Back to Town – Vacation Manor

High rise takes up the old parking lot
Concrete cover like something
I’d forgotten to say to you
before you took off
A quick drive by the old blue house
Remember every friend
passing out on the couch
Yet I can’t say that I want it back again

Still it’s bittersweet
But if you look for me
I’ve been hiding out
when I come back to town
Don’t know where you’re hanging out
My ears not to the ground

– “Back to Town,” Vacation Manor

Released May 16^th via Nettwerk Music Group, Back to Town arrives as the long-awaited follow-up to Vacation Manor’s 2021 self-titled debut. Written and recorded over the course of two years in the duo’s Virginia home studio, the EP marks a major milestone for Nathan Towles (guitar, vocals) and Cole Young (drums), who recently celebrated ten years as a band, navigated fatherhood, marriage, and the slow transformation of adulthood. Profoundly intimate and intentional, these six songs serve as different landmarks in Towles and Young’s shared and individual experiences – moments of change, clarity, and emotional depth – charting a new chapter in Vacation Manor’s evolution while staying true to the warmth and melodic ease that have always defined them.

“This record was a way of orienting ourselves to the season of life we’re in,” Nathan Towles tells Atwood Magazine. “Since our last record Cole has gotten married, I became a father and recently turned 30, and we celebrated 10 years as a band. As someone who can be very sentimental and nostalgic, I think this record highlights the struggle to let go of what was and look optimistically towards the future.”

“It’s been really special to stand back for a second and realize how much this band has been a catalyst for so many close friendships and broader community,” Cole Young adds.

That push-and-pull between past and future shaped every part of the process. “Sonically I think we wanted to perfect and grow what we’ve always loved about our sound while incorporating the sounds that have inspired us these last few years – a few of those being Oasis, The Sundays, or The Cure,” they explain. That evolution came with plenty of exploration: “There were so many songs written for this record as we tried to figure out its identity,” they continue.

“Several songs we really loved didn’t make it on here but felt like they fit together in their own category. I think we may have written part of our next record while trying to find this one.”

Fittingly, the record opens with “January (Over & Over),” a charming, churning pop-rock reverie born from burnout and self-doubt that ultimately sparked the entire EP into motion. The come-up from the comedown, it’s a dreamy, dramatic outpouring of catchy and cathartic sound here to remind us that we’re not alone in our misery. “There was a moment a few years ago at a New Year’s party where I overheard all of these conversations people were having about their goals and resolutions for the year,” Towles recalls. “As I listened, it highlighted my own fatigue and burnout in that season and I started panicking a little bit, feeling like I had lost some drive. Oddly enough, that moment of recognizing my own lack of inspiration inspired the idea for this song.”

Propelled by warm harmonics and a gliding groove, the track – featured on Atwood Magazine’s 109^th Editor’s Picks – turns inertia into movement, capturing the desperation of feeling stuck, and the small, significant shift that happens when you finally name it out loud. “It started messing with your head, now January’s got you standing on the edge,” the band sing, a line that feels like the song’s thesis: A cry for motion when everything feels paralyzed.

If “January (Over & Over)” is the EP’s spark, “You, In the Afternoon” is its sunlit center – a tender reflection on fatherhood, presence, and fleeting joy. Written during Nathan Towles’ first months as a new parent, the song captures the warmth of a quiet spring moment and the aching awareness that time is moving too fast. “After getting through a few sleepless months of having a newborn, I was really loving the season of life my family was in, and springtime became a sort of metaphor for wanting to stay in a beautiful moment that you know is changing and evolving so quickly,” he explains.

Set against breezy melodies and gentle rhythms, the track feels like a slow inhale – a reminder to stay grounded in what’s good, even as it slips quietly through your hands. “I don’t know the ending, but I hope it’s kinda like right now,” Towles sings – not a resolution, but a wish to hold still, and take your life in, even as it passes you by.

Woke up this morning
Heard the birds in the trees
Sun through the leaves
Something about this scene
And your daffodil smile
I haven’t seen in a while

Maybe it’s a long shot
Maybe I should know by now
Things always change
Thought about the ending
But I don’t need to know right now
With you, in the afternoon

That yearning for stillness within change comes into sharper focus on the EP’s title track, “Back to Town.” Co-written with longtime friend and collaborator Trent Dabbs, the song paints a vivid portrait of emotional return: To a city, to a season, to a version of yourself you may not recognize anymore. “I had lived [in Nashville] a few years before, and being back reminded me how much had changed since then,” Towles shares. “I like that the song isn’t one-dimensional – it’s nostalgia mixed with regret, broken friendships, and a collage of your favorite memories all at once.”

With soft guitar strums and a head-nodding groove, “Back To Town” is as introspective as it is melodic – a snapshot of movement, dislocation, and reckoning. “Sonically, I think it ties together the sound of the last few records in a way that was fresh and exciting to us,” the band explain. “Lyrically, it’s the first song in the narrative timeline that these songs trace.”

That ache we hear in “Back to Town” comes to a head on “Damage Is Done,” a soft-spoken, slow-burning ballad about showing up through the worst of it. Framed by delicate acoustic guitar and a warm, intimate vocal delivery, the song is as much a love letter as it is a vow – written in response to Towles’ wife’s anxiety and his own struggle to know what to say. “Too often my response would be a well-intentioned but empty ‘it’s gonna be ok,’” he shares.

“One day Trent Dabbs and I were writing together and the line ‘I’ll be here ‘til the damage is done’ came up. We completely abandoned whatever song we were working on for it, and I’m so glad we did.” That phrase became the heart of the song, a lyrical refrain that holds everything together: “When the only heart you’ve got takes a beating, I’ll be here ‘til the damage is done.” “In my opinion, it’s our best song to date lyrically speaking,” Towles adds. “It really sums up how I want to respond when someone presents their worries and fears.”

So, here we are again
Staring at a ceiling fan
You pull the sheets, ask if I’m awake
You know that I am
This night is filled with loaded questions
You don’t wanna hear what I say
I guess the better side of me
is the one that got away

Well, I’m not going anywhere easy
I’ll be here burning out with the sun
Don’t even bother with the trouble, baby
Just know that trouble’s always gonna come
When everything around you is leaving
And all the fears are running at once
When the only heart you’ve got takes a beating,
I’ll be here ‘til the damage is done

“Casio Cure” captures the restless energy of adolescence with a mix of punchy rhythms, nostalgic haze, and lyrical snapshots pulled straight from memory. It’s a song about that particular brand of youthful aimlessness – when anything feels possible, but nothing feels clear. “There’s a unique sadness to that age when you have seemingly limitless potential, so much freedom, and yet don’t know where to go in life,” Towles reflects.

Co-written with longtime friend Nick Purvis, the track channels that angst through gritty textures and a vivid lyrical collage: “Father John and empty pockets / Living on an empty promise / Buying into every fleeting line.” As much as it aches, “Casio Cure” also pulses with movement – a reminder that even uncertainty can be cinematic when you’re young and everything matters.

Father John and empty pockets
Living on and empty promise
Buying into every fleeting line
Cut ties with all your best friends
You fell in love last weekend
They could never stand to see you smile

Well, everyone just has the same old cure
Never asking twice or needing more
It’s been a long time since
tomorrow caught your eye
Maybe the world went on and passed you by
And everyone’s got something you can’t find
It’s been a long day in the
corners of your mind
But it’s fine

– “Casio Cure,” Vacation Manor

The EP closes tenderly with “When It’s All Over,” a hushed, emotionally resonant meditation on parenthood, presence, and the passage of time – and perhaps the sweetest lullaby of the band’s ten-year career. Written during a quiet morning with guitar in hand, Towles found the right canvas to process the fatigue and beauty of new fatherhood. “It’s so tempting to check out and fail to be present in the beautiful, yet exhausting journey that is parenthood,” he shares. “This song was a way to give myself perspective through honesty.” With its gentle piano and shimmering guitar lines, the track feels like a long exhale – not an answer, but a promise to keep showing up. “Then I’ll play it all back again / Wishing I could go back then / And stay a while.”

When I start leaning on tomorrow
I forget you here today
On and on our season passes
And it’s starting to slowly fade

Now, I’m playing it out in my mind
Dreaming about the daythat we wake up
When it’s all over
Then I’ll play it all back again
Wishing I could go back then
And stay a while
When it’s all over, when it’s all over

Back to Town may be one of Vacation Manor’s shortest projects to date, but it’s also their most intimate, and emotionally expansive.

Across six quietly powerful songs, the duo manage to distill a decade of growth – as artists, partners, friends, and now parents – into a single, cohesive collection. It’s a record that meets change with clarity, and offers presence as a kind of resistance. If the heart of Back to Town could be distilled into a single phrase, it might be the one Vacation Manor chose themselves: Accepting the present.

“I hope it’s honest enough to meet listeners in the fear of change, and hopeful enough to relieve some of that fear,” they share.

Because ultimately, Back To Town isn’t just about going home; it’s about becoming one.

Experience the full record via our below stream, and dive deeper into the heart of Vacation Manor’s Back to Town EP with Atwood Magazine as Nathan Towles and Cole Young take us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their latest release!

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:: stream/purchase Back to Town here ::

:: connect with Vacation Manor here ::

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Stream: ‘Back to Town’ – Vacation Manor

:: Inside Back to Town ::

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January (Over & Over)

There was a moment a few years ago at a New Year’s party where I overheard all of these conversations people were having about their goals and resolutions for the year. As I listened, it highlighted my own fatigue and burnout in that season and I started panicking a little bit, feeling like I had lost some drive. Oddly enough, that moment of recognizing my own lack of inspiration inspired the idea for this song and is part of the reason this EP started getting off the ground. I’d been singing the first line of this song for a few years until at some point I brought the idea to our friend Jason Boesel, with whom we ended up finishing the song.

You, In The Afternoon

This song came together in my first few months as a new father. After getting through a few sleepless months of having a newborn, I was really loving the season of life my family was in an springtime became a sort of metaphor for wanting to stay in a beautiful moment that you know is changing and evolving so quickly. It’s a reminder to appreciate the moment and be optimistic about the future. The imagery in the song describes a scene that’s almost too simple to be true and is my way of wrestling with how to be present in a moment like that.

Back to Town

“Back to Town” is about that feeling you get when you go back to a place you don’t feel like you belong anymore. Maybe it’s because of bad memories or maybe it’s just because you’re out of touch and the place has moved on without you. It’s not the way I wake up feeling every day, but it happens often enough that I get a tinge of that feeling and I love the specificity of that. I wrote this song with Trent Dabbs while I was on a writing trip in Nashville. I had lived there a few years before and being back reminded me how much had changed since then. I like that the song isn’t one-dimensional – it’s nostalgia mixed with regret, broken friendships, and a collage of your favorite memories all at once.

Damage Is Done

My wife went through a really anxious season a few years ago and I didn’t always know what to say when she would tell me an intrusive thought or when some worst-case-scenario would come out of her mouth. Sometimes if she’s feeling worried or anxious about something, it doesn’t come up until we’re lying in bed talking as we fall asleep. Too often my response would be a well-intentioned but empty… it’s easy to want to say “everything is going to be ok,” but we don’t always know that. This song was a way of saying “even if the worst thing you can think of happens, I’m not going anywhere.” One day Trent Dabbs and I were writing together and the line “I’ll be here ’til the damage is done” came up. We completely abandoned whatever song we were working on for it and I’m so glad we did.

Casio Cure

This song has this coming-of-age feeling to it, so we tried to let the lyrics match that. We must have written lyrics for this song five different times until finding the set that fits the music. For a few years, this idea was a lyric less demo that was stuck in our heads. It’s really just a montage of some of my own memories and some naïve thoughts as a teenager and early twenty-something. The song’s co-writer, Nick Purvis, has been a friend of mine since early high school and we all agreed there was this kind of angst to the music so we tried to write into that to make it about our shared aimlessness in our teen years. There’s a unique sadness to that age when you have seemingly limitless potential, so much freedom, and yet don’t know where to go in life.

When It’s All Over

Last year my wife and I became parents. One morning I was sitting at the kitchen table strumming the guitar and these chords struck me. They felt like the right canvas to wrestle through the tension of being a new parent. It’s so tempting to check out and fail to be present in the beautiful, yet exhausting journey that is parenthood. This song was a way to give myself perspective through honesty. I think of this song as a counterpart to “You, In the Afternoon.” They feel like they both hit on this desire to be present in a fast-paced season of life, but from different perspectives. I love the sense of tiredness you can feel on the recording but also the tinge of hopefulness that I hope comes through to listeners. This felt like the perfect closer to the record.

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