For many, returning home for the holidays brings a mix of nostalgia and joy.

For singer Tom Nethersole, it also inspired a song.

Released on July 8, the The Village was inspired by a Boxing Day lunch in Shepparton.

Returning home for Christmas, the former local was reflecting on the people who had shaped his life after his mother passed away.

“Every single Boxing Day we go to our family friend’s place and try and finish up all the leftovers that we've had from the day before,” Tom said.

“There was just a moment where we were sitting outside in the summer sun playing stupid board games.

He said he realised “the fact that we were all in this one place was beautiful”.

“No matter how much we change or how much we move away or have different life events happen, we’re still going to have each other,” he said.

For the home-grown musician who is now based in Melbourne, those reunions have become increasingly rare.

“We only really see each other now at Christmases or funerals,” he said.

“In a way, death continues to be the thing that brings us together.”

This mix of sadness, nostalgia and love is at the centre of the new track.

“It’s a song I wrote about the aftermath of my mum passing away and the people that helped raise me and my siblings,” Tom said.

“For me, it sits in the uncomfortable space between grieving the love you lost and appreciating the love you otherwise might not have had.

“It feels like a bittersweet ode to the people who helped raise me.”

When Tom played the song for his sisters for the first time, he said they felt the same.

“I remember us just kind of sitting in silence after,” he said.

“And I turned and saw both of them were bawling their eyes out.”

While The Village looks back on the past, Tom’s career is firmly focused on the future.

To coincide with the release of The Village, Tom is going on his first Australian tour, performing in Sydney and Queensland after selling out two Melbourne shows.

“I’m doing a fully independent tour with no label and no big team,” he said.

“I’m working four or five jobs to fund this, to pay the lighting engineers, accommodation and everything else.

“I’m just so pumped for the song to be out in the world.”

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Wednesday, 20th March 2030

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