In 2019, reeling from the pain of a long-term breakup, British alt-Americana troubadour Holly Lerski hit the road and the creative muse struck. Written in two “suites,” her fifth studio album, Sweet Decline (due out April 26th via Laundry Label), was born of that travel. Lerski embarked on a whirlwind solo road trip with a miniature guitar across seven U.S. states in 20 days, during which she wrote the first seven songs in quick succession. Two months later, she returned, this time wandering the Southern California desert and coast, where she penned the next three.
As a songwriter, Lerski is both a lone wolf howling at the moon and a weaver of life’s synchronistic little odd threads, akin to artists like Tori Amos and Patti Smith in her fierce pursuit of her own, wild path. She draws personal inspiration from wanderers and other traveling truth-bearers like Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan, blending poetic insights with rich sensory detail in pure, down-to-earth verse.
The album is both a catalog of Lerski’s own raw pain and a reflection on the precious, mysterious connections that led her down a path of true change. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is become vulnerable again.
Today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the video for the standout track “Oh Cassy Run,” an upbeat work of infectious folk-pop that finds Lerski showcasing her ability to craft thoughtful songs with earworm melodies and choruses. Lerski describes her music as “sensitive, sensual and asymmetrical,” and this song perfectly captures all of those elements. The video itself is playful, complementing the song’s imagery of running through the woods and being free in nature.
Watch the video and read our conversation with Holly Lerski below…
What is the story behind this song? How did it come together? What is it about?
I was on a road trip in California, getting over heartbreak by doing a bucket list trip of National Parks and places I’d always dreamed of visiting. I’d taken a tiny travel guitar with me so I could write as I travelled. One of the things on my list was to see a giant tree, so I went to Sequoia. I’d spent two days in the middle of the forest, in a very wild part where mountain lions were roaming. I even vlogged a new song from inside a hollow Sequoia tree. It was just an incredible experience, being immersed in the American wilderness with these ancient giants all around me. I’m British so I’d never seen anything like that before. The song came as I was leaving, heading to LA, feeling euphoric. I think I was humming Springsteen’s “Born to Run” because it felt so good to be free. As I drove, I remembered a poem I’d written about my dog, Cassy, running through woods. She’d been having a doggy dream one day, her head on my shoulder, and she started to quiver. I put my head against hers and tried to imagine what she was dreaming of, and this poem came about her chasing a muntjac (deer) through the undergrowth. I started singing that poem, a chorus appeared, and I had a song.
Are there any lyric lines that you really love or that really speak to you? What do you feel makes them resonate?
I love singing the opening lines, “Trill and tremble.” I like a good bit of alliteration, and since it comes from a poem, it’s full of it. Trips off the tongue and reminds me a little of Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” — “Twas brillig, and the slithy toves” — so satisfying to speak! But, to be honest, I love singing all of it because the whole song is one epic race through the woods. In it, I become my dog, running with her nose to the damp earth. It’s an all-senses thing.
If listeners can take away one thing from having heard this song, what do you hope that is?
I hope they’ll go do something that makes them feel physically good. If they can, get out into nature and run through the woods, make sparks, and feel life. If they can’t physically do that, then run with the imagination, as I did with Cassy’s head on my shoulder when she was doggy dreaming. Just feel the joy of being alive. Dogs feel it every day. I’m kind of jealous.
Tell us about the video. Whose idea was it and how did it come together?
I wanted to get a sense of wild abandon, but I didn’t want to do the obvious, or the not-so-obvious — me putting on a fur suit and running through a wood. Then one day I saw a Galen Howard birthday dance for Joni Mitchell and thought, “This is it.” He totally captures the spirit of the song. Galen’s dancing is legendary, as is his mustache. You might have seen him in “Book of Boba Fett.” I’d been following him on Instagram for a while as his dances crack me up, so I just messaged him, told him I had a song about my dog dreaming, and asked if he’d dance to it. Amazingly, he said yes.
How does this song fit in among the others on the forthcoming album? How is it similar or different?
The album is a song cycle, and the running order is the order they came. It wasn’t intentional, it just happened that way. As I travelled, different emotions surfaced along with each song. I felt bravado in Chicago, loneliness in San Francisco, a bit happier in Carmel Beach, and so on. “Oh Cassy Run” was 15 days and five songs into the trip when I was feeling the most free — I was a complete wildling by then.
