Album review : HOLLY LERSKI – Sweet Decline

February 29th, 2024 by petefeenstra

Pete Feenstra chatted to Holly Lerski for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio playing tracks from the new album. First broadcast 3 March 2024.

Laundry [Release date: 26.04.24]

Holly Lerski’s ‘Sweet Decline’ works hard to capture lingering moments of inspiration as part of a post-relationship healing process.

It’s an observational album built round an American road trip that starts in Chicago and finds an emotional equilibrium on the West Coast in general and Big Sur in particular.

And as she immerses herself in startling scenery, literary history and people, her songwriting process gathers momentum in a confessional and story telling style, subtly framed by multi-instrumentalist Matthew Roley’s intuitive production.

The duo build a lattice of drifting tonal colours, nuanced strings, rhythmical variety and enough cool textures to tap into the feeling of wide open spaces.

The frequent combination of an acoustic wash, significant percussion and SistaStrings arrangements give the music the ability to carry an emotional moment.

The opening waltz-time ‘Chicago’ is a surprisingly early uplifting string-led melodic song, with strong acoustic rhythms and exaggerated phrasing, a style that shapes much of the 11 song set.

‘Home Is Your Shoulder’ is a curious mix of lyrical introspection and jingle-jangle pop which delivers an uplifting musical bridge with an open-ended message: “Any time you want me, you just reach up and call me.”

It’s almost as if she can’t wait for the healing process to begin by engaging with the wider world.

She sets herself the hard task of penning something original in a confessional style, although she does stop short of directly addressing the listener and settles on stories instead.

And while she’s following a well trodden path – both geographically (the West Coast), and spiritually (post-break up songs), she successfully crafts an album with an emotional reach beyond the Nashville friendly staples of overused pedal steel and significant hooks.

Her pit stops on the West Coast include places like the ‘Nepenthe’s’ restaurant, which inspires the gently strummed ‘Nepenthe’, with aching strings and a neat reference to the Beats: “I heard Henry Miller came here, I wanted to spend my last days there, Gods of Olympus, Kerouac, Ginsberg and me.”

On ‘Down At Deetjen’s’ she’s transported back to her previous relationship, with a cool jazzy feel, sonorous strings, choral bv’s and a hopeful narrative in a Joni Mitchell diary style reflection.

She has the ability to evoke a particular time and place with a pleasant vocal range and armed with the substance of emotive phrasing.

The real achievement here is the way her songs explore rich sonic detail, cool dynamics and meaningful lyrics as part of an enveloping musical journey.

This is even the case on the even on the stripped down ukulele-led ‘Carmel’.

The latter has a jaunty, exhilaratory feel which underpins her lyrical spontaneity:

“Next day I drove down to Carmel and sat on the beach, ate a cake and drank coffee, far from home, alone but I’m not alone.”

The accompanying encouraging backing vocal hollers also lead to an humorous film reference; “I just need Clint to make my day.”

The whispered phrasing and gentle percussion of ‘Tall Trees” places the emphasis on a warm sound, while her emotive vocal amplifies the originality of her enquiring lyrics such as: “ Tall trees stand for centuries, so will my love come back to me?”

Then there’s the sudden percussive snap and short, sharp hook of ‘Oh Cassy Run’ which lifts the album at the midpoint.

The title track features a warm sounding close-to-the-mic vocal, which is arguably her best on the album. It gives substance to her rhymes and a catchy hook, neatly flanked by aching pedal steel chimes, piano and organ.

It builds impressively to lever us into a delicious opening verse and the song title: “There’s a mountain range, I passed today, reminds me a little, of the curvy lines of your stickleback spine, run my finger down the middle, of that sweet decline.”

The song subtly builds to the point where it provides a cathartic release to all that’s gone before it, making the closing acoustic/ orchestral finish of ‘Girl In a High Castle’ – a meditation on loneliness – seem like distant echo of a past that she’s overcome.

‘Sweet Decline’ is something of a guilty pleasure on a cold winter’s night. Just like a good book, it demands you immerse yourself in it, and come out the other end embracing life with a smile. ****

Review by Pete Feenstra

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