Background and release
The lyrics of the song reflect on the story of Tiffany JaNae Taylor and Raymond Leo Newton, a teenage couple who were both 17 year old students at Juab High School in Nephi, Utah when they were killed in a grade crossing accident with a freight train in 1994. [5] In an interview with NME , frontman Brandon Flowers described how "25 years later, I was still really affected by this train accident from when I was in the eighth grade. Two seniors from the high school were killed. I had seen one of them that morning. They had a baby. [...] I was just shocked at how emotional I was when I started to write this verse.” [6] The un-abridged version of the song contains a snippet at the start of the song of a Nephi resident detailing how "every two or three years, the train kills somebody," adding that "the train is a way to find your way out of this life if you get hit by it". The song's second verse references the historic problem of opioid usage in Nephi, with lyrics such as "when we first heard opioid stories, they were always in whispering tones". [7] Of this lyrics, Flowers' said: “Since I’ve left Nephi, [...] opioids have left their ugly mark on the town, our friends and acquaintances. While a lot of these songs took place in the ’90s, we saw more overdose deaths in 2020 during the pandemic than any other year in recorded history." [8]
"Quiet Town" was written by frontman Brandon Flowers and record producer Jonathan Rado, who previously worked with the band on Imploding the Mirage (2020). Flowers and Rado, along with guitarist Dave Keuning and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. on select songs, wrote the entirety of Pressure Machine together, except for "Terrible Thing" and "Runaway Horses", written solely by Flowers. [9]
"Quiet Town" was first teased by the Killers on social media in a fifty-six second teaser video titled posted to the band's YouTube channel on August 2, 2021. The video depicts the band walking around the town of Nephi, with the song supposedly playing off a jukebox shown in the video. [10] The title of the then-unnamed song was revealed in a tweet of the track listing of Pressure Machine made by the Killers the same day. [11] The song was teased in another trailer one week later, on August 9, 2021. [12] "Quiet Town" was released as a promotional single on August 13, 2021, the same day as the release of Pressure Machine, alongside an animated music video. [3] [13]
Notes from a Quiet Town
On March 17, 2022, the Killers posted a 30 second teaser on social media of "Notes from a Quiet Town," a documentary slated for release on March 21 via Facebook, alongside the release of the deluxe edition of Pressure Machine on March 25. [14] The documentary, directed by Robert Machoian, premiered on Facebook on March 21 and later on YouTube on March 23. [15] "Notes from a Quiet Town" was recorded throughout July 2021 in Nephi, just before the release of Pressure Machine. [9] The 33-minute documentary compiles footage of the band performing "Cody" and "Quiet Town" in a Nephi backyard, Brandon Flowers and Jake Blanton performing "Terrible Thing" in the Juab High School gymnasium, the Ute Stampede Rodeo, as well as the Ute Stampede Bathing Beauty competition. [16] [17] The video also includes interviews with residents of Nephi, with most of the interviewees being the voices heard at the start of songs on the un-abridged version of Pressure Machine. [18] The documentary received positive reviews upon release, with Virgin Radio UK remarking that the "legends have treated fans to versions of Cody, Terrible Thing, and Quiet Town in their new documentary and live film." [19]
