“A formidable artist” (Music Republic Magazine), British musician Holly Lerski has been playing music since she got her first instrument — a child’s tin drum kit — at the age of four.
In 2019, Lerski embarked on a solo rail and road trip across America, from Chicago to San Francisco, to drive through the National Parks of California alone. She took a miniature guitar and a suitcase, and called it her 'Road Less Travelled', writing what would become her bittersweet and stirring fifth studio album, Sweet Decline.
BIO
Founding member and songwriter for the 90’s folk-rock band Angelou, Lerski released her recent album, Sweet Decline in 2024 - a song cycle written on a solo rail and road trip she took through America in 2019. Produced in Nashville by Matt “Truck” Roley and featuring the Milwaukee-raised sibling duo SistaStrings, the record struck a chord with both audiences and reviewers alike, receiving widespread praise for her storytelling. Uncut Magazine called her Americana collection "canyon rock beauties".
Lerski formed indie-folk band Angelou in 1996, releasing their Jeff Buckley inspired version of Hallelujah on Boo Hewerdine's label Haven Records.
Angelou's 1998 debut album Automiracles (prod. by Calum MacColl) was described as “achingly lovely” by Mojo Magazine. While You Were Sleeping followed, with further accolades in The Sunday Times. Their third album, Life is Beautiful, released under Lerski's name, finally introduced her songs to BBC daytime radio. In 2015 Lerski released her fourth album, The Wooden House. Recorded in her garden shed, and self released, it was named one of the best folk albums of 2015 by both The Sunday Telegraph and The Independent on Sunday.
Examining the complicated fodder of life, Lerski is in search of genuine connection. Sweet Decline — from the initial sketches with James “Hutch” Hutchinson (Bonnie Raitt), Tony Braunagel, Johnny Lee Schell, and Diego “El Twanguero” Garcia in LA, to the finished works in Nashville — is the musical culmination of that hard-won lesson. Together, the album’s elegant, alt-country anthems form a rare breed of intimate outsider ballad, charting the miraculous ways we learn to heal after being ripped apart.
“It's all about feel - how I make someone feel with my music. And when someone listens, and responds, it’s like this energetic boomerang that comes back to me, a little changed. I love that about songwriting. It's an alchemy and makes me feel connected to people. It's the reason I write songs."
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 such as Brandi Carlile and Patti Smith in her fierce pursuit of her own wild path. HiFi News & Record Review calls her “Taylor Swift for the grown-ups.” She draws personal inspiration from other wanderers and travelling truth-bearers, such as Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan, blending poetic insights with rich sensory detail in pure, down-to-earth verse.
Her 2025 Greek Trilogy EP continues the journey - a love story in three acts.
REVIEWS for SWEET DECLINE
“'Carmel' & 'Yosemite' are canyon rock beauties & the arrangements by SistaStrings are gorgeous. A long way from Norfolk origins but it sounds like Holly has landed exactly where she wants to be.” - Uncut Magazine
"Devotees of singer/songwriters ought to be aware of this well-kept secret - a UK exponent but she's more mid-Atlantic than British...Taylor Swift for the grown-ups. - HiFi News 9/10
"Lerski’s powerful melodic sensibility and perceptive lyrics beautifully embellished by the album’s masterstroke, SistaStrings finely polished by the audio alchemy." - RnR Magazine 4****
"Glorious and gorgeous, it’s a keeper of an album and an early contender for best of 2024." - Amplify Music Magazine (US)
"She uses her soft and lilting voice to convey exactly what she’s trying to put across on an album of bittersweet stirrings...a delightfully fresh-sounding album about what it felt like to be on the path to self-renewal and self-rediscovery."
- RAMzine 4****
"I was discovering different elements with every listen to the album, and I must admit to some surprise that I was noticing little lyrical snatches on the fourth and fifth and sixth play throughs. It is a delightful album, made all the better because it has a personal touch."
- Music-News.com 4****
“A cool adventure through California. Charming ukulele-driven 'Carmel' was written on the beach & all have a laid-back-sun dappled air. Not unlike Canadian The Great Lake Swimmers yet with a feel all its own.” - Record Collector Magazine
“Each single showcases Holly’s distinctive sound & story telling prowess. Accompanied by captivating visuals & praised by critics these singles have set the stage for 'Sweet Decline'." - Maverick Magazine
'Sweet Decline' in Best New Country and Americana Albums for week of April 26, 2024, American Songwriter
"Holly breaks our hearts with the aftermath of a breakup, when we’re out there and realize we’re on our own, again." - Americana Highways
"An upbeat work of infectious folk-pop that finds Lerski showcasing her ability to craft thoughtful songs with earworm melodies and choruses."- Glide Magazine (US)
“Her vocals are beguiling and beautiful, with music that weaves among indie pop, Americana, and folk. The results are charming and touching." - Vents Magazine (US)
"Holly Lerski shares her healing journey after heartbreak on the emotional 'Sweet Decline'... gorgeous…" - Skope Magazine (US)
“This record combines Holly’s distinctive sound with pop elements.” - Diva Magazine
“‘Girl In A High Castle’ both tops and tails this lovely, honest collection of songs. This really is a lovely album.” - Americana-UK
"These are well-considered, finely crafted songs and the restorative properties of the places she visited shine through in Holly’s voice, every minute of the album."
- At The Barrier
"'Tall Trees' is elemental in both metaphorical and literal ways... 'Oh Cassy Run' is bouncy in the ways older Joni Mitchell songs used to be."
- Off-Centre Views (US)
"A classy showcase of Holly’s vocal talents as a formidable artist. Also for Holly as an accomplished craftswoman on the song writing side of things. No decline here, folks…” - MusicRepublic.com
“She has a bucket of songs & they’re good & she delivers them like a singer should. This is solid stuff, check it out."- theaudiophileman.com
“Lerski keeps the arrangements light throughout the album and uses the music to illustrate her stories...the feeling that this is a soundtrack is entirely right." - Fatea
"A testament to her resilience, born from a road trip across America’s West Coast...fuses the raw authenticity of folk storytelling with an astute pop sensibility."- The Strange Brew
"‘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, & come out the other end embracing life with a smile."- Get Ready To Rock 4/5****
REVIEWS for GREEK TRILOGY EP
“Lerski gives us a work of sweeping, gorgeous folk-pop. With vocals that feel bright and harmonic, the song is an infectious ode to long distance relationships and working through challenges that come with falling in love. With little more than her acoustic guitar as backing and layered vocals, Lerski delivers a shimmering and heartfelt song that showcases her ability as a singer-songwriter to connect on a deep emotional level.” - Glide Magazine
“There may only be three tracks on this EP, but they may just be three of the best songs Lerski has written, and where other EPs with more tracks often just feel like a collection of songs, “Greek Trilogy”, thanks to its emotively graphic narrative, has the feel of a complete album despite it clocking in at less than twelve minutes. Very much recommend.”- Americana UK
"‘Greek Trilogy’ plays to her lyrical, musical and conceptual strengths, bringing clarity to deeply felt emotions. Undoubtedly influenced by the younger Joni Mitchell, ‘Greek Trilogy’ is a love story in three parts plus two short narrations. Holly Lerski consistently employs the kind of subtle, lyrical and musical lightness of touch which suggests she’s crying out to kindred spirits across the ages, because while the love stories might change, the universal emotions expressed here live on."- Get Ready to ROCK!
"With her Greek Trilogy EP, Lerski continues to find herself while traveling across the globe. These songs of romantic possibilities, their disappointments, and the promise of a new path make this three-song EP feels like a full journey. With two "found audio" interstitials detailing Lerski's little journey, this is a compact project with a lot of bite. Lerski's performances are soulful, while the music combines the breeziness of '90s pop and a deeper folk tradition." - Rainbow Rodeo
“…like a postcard written at golden hour, half-lament, half-revelation. It’s a reckoning with love’s illusions, but also a quiet reclamation of self, glowing with a light that doesn’t flicker or fade. In the end, the song doesn’t just mourn what slipped away. It stands in the radiance of what remains.”- Atwood Magazine
