Holly Lerski – “Sweet Decline”
Americana Highways brings you this premiere of Holly Lerski’s song “Sweet Decline,” the title track from her forthcoming album, which is set for release on April 26 via Laundry Label. This song will be available on April 19. “Sweet Decline” was written by Holly Lerski on a road trip; produced and mixed by Matthew Roley; recorded at Bunkernoise and mastered at True East Mastering.
“Sweet Decline” is Holly Lerski on lead vocals, backing vocals and acoustic guitar; Joshua Hunt on drums and percussion; Matthew Roley on bass, piano, and keyboards; Alex MacCollough on pedal steel; and Abby Dees and Scott Roley on backing vocals.
We had a brief chat with Holly Lerski about this song. The video premiere appears just beneath the interview.
Americana Highways: Can you tell us what inspired you to write this song and what it’s about?
Holly Lerski: “Sweet Decline” came from this trippy moment when I was driving up the US 395 in California on my second road trip. It’s a spectacular drive, the 395. Some parts are very flat and straight but then you have these huge mountains in the distance. At one point, the mountains in front of me looked like a person lying on their front, the curve looked like the curve of someone’s back. It was like an optical illusion – I had to blink. It got me thinking about my ex and a poem I’d once written about her back. I’d forgotten about her and felt like I was finally moving on. The road trips were helping. But there I was again, falling back into my decline.
AH: What kind of a vibe were you going for on this song? How does the final version differ from what you imagined it might be before you went into the studio?
HL: This ended up a much more languid version of how it started, and that’s all down to my producer Matthew Roley. On the road, perhaps because I was constantly on the move, driving, it was this rolling repetitive riff. You can see it here on my Facebook page, where I vlogged it from Death Valley.
But when I got home – when I stopped moving – it felt like the song had to get to a destination. I’m a brutal songwriter. If I get bored, then I know the listener will, so I took it apart and changed the chord progressions. By the time I got to Nashville, it was this folk-rock song, but still pushing ahead too much. My producer Matt Roley is very intuitive. He said, “Try this – slow it right down so it’s practically crawling. See where it needs to go.” So I did, then I started to take it to the point it felt right. It was like he tapped into the energy and it worked. He’s a genius.
AH: What do you hope listeners get from hearing the song?
HL: As with all the songs on my new album, I hope this song will make people take the leap and go traveling solo. There is just something about experiencing life and people when you’re on your own. It forces you to connect, even when sometimes it’s hard. When you’ve had your heart broken, you’re lonely and feeling like you’ve done everything in life and there’s nothing left for you, then you get out there and realize how wrong you are and that there’s this big, beautiful world out there full of life. Well, it’s just liberating. I want to share that secret with people.
AH: Have you played it live? If so, what kind of reaction has the song gotten from audiences?
HL: Just a handful of times in England, and every time people loved it. But probably the best time was at a summer street festival in Norwich when Abby Dees, one of the people I met on my first US road trip, had come over to visit. We’d become great friends after she interviewed me on her LA radio show, and it just so turned out she was an amazing singer, too. I knew as soon as I had a song ready I wanted her to sing on it, so it was great when she happened to get to Norwich when we were playing in the city center. I called her up to sing. Was even better to get her over to Nashville for the recording.
AH: How does “Sweet Decline” fit in among the others on the album? How is it similar and/or how does it stand out as different?
HL: This was the second song written on my return to California. My first trip was in August 2019, when I wrote the first seven songs. As soon as I got back to England, I realized I had to go back, which I did two months later, and this one came the day after the “Joshua Tree” song.
I think all the songs on this album are different because they were written, unconsciously, as a kind of song cycle. They came as I traveled, so however I was feeling at the time is how the song came out. By that point, I was feeling good, but also tired and realizing I’d been trying to get over this heartbreak for too long, and maybe I was in just some kind of decline? Albeit, a sweet one.
AH: What’s next for Holly Lerski?
HL: The next thing is to finish my book about the journey. It’s called “Nepenthe,” and it is basically a kind of “How to Get Over a Broken Heart and Get Happy” guide, with stories about how the songs came, and a bunch of crazy thoughts on how and why all the synchronicities came. I always planned a book that would accompany the record, but doing everything myself, it’s hard to be wearing so many hats. So I’m just looking forward to playing the songs live and finishing the book by the autumn. I’ll either self-publish or put it up on my Substack. I write a little newsletter and send it out every Monday. It’s along the same kind of theme – feel-good vibes. Whatever way I can get the message out: that you’re not alone, it’s a big world out there, and we’re all beautifully connected.
Thanks very much for chatting with us, Holly Lerski. “There’s a mountain range I’m stuck in the middle / On a lost highway, will you comfort me a little?” The setting for the video under the bright wide skies of the Death Valley area of Southeastern California is unmistakeable. And a perfect context for the lonely introspection of this song. Holly breaks our hearts with this song what it feels like in the aftermath of a breakup, when we’re out there are realize we’re on our own, again. Pretty instrumentation adds to the thoughtfulness. Enjoy this video and the song.
Find the music here: https://orcd.co/g9mbzkj
This video was filmed by Abby Dees and Holly Lerski, and edited by Holly.