Singled Out: Holly Lerski's Nepenthe

British alt-Americana troubadour Holly Lerski just released her new album "Sweet Decline" and to celebrate we asked her to tell us about the song "Nepenthe". Here is the story:

Nepenthe is a potion Homer talks of in "The Odyssey." Translated, it literally means "the one that chases away sorrow." It also happens to be a restaurant set up on a hill in Big Sur, California and the final destination on the first US road trip I took back in 2019. I'd heard the Beatniks used to hang out there in the 1950s - Kerouac had written about it in his book "Big Sur," too - so it was an essential part of my trip; a pilgrimage of sorts.

By that point, I'd been on the road for almost 20 days and had written five songs. I'd spent two days in LA - where no songs appeared, as I was too busy having a good time - and now I was driving the wild, rugged Pacific coastline. Every so often, the fog would obscure the hairpin bends as trucks suddenly appeared. While driving, I was thinking about how the next day I'd be going back to England, and I had the same feeling of anticipation, that something might hit me when I got home. I was feeling so good and in the moment travelling but also aware I was still heartbroken, and returning to an empty house. I didn't want to fall back into sadness again.

I get to Nepenthe Restaurant, have lunch up on the mountain - it's foggy below. It feels like I'm on top of Mount Olympus. After eating, I decide to go check out the Henry Miller Library just down the hill. Again, I've heard good things about it, plus I always buy a book when I visit meaningful places to remind me of my travels. I strike up a conversation with the bookseller, a poet called N-, asking for Henry Miller recommendations, and she suggests an Anaïs Nin book instead. I buy this and a biography of Billie Holiday. At the counter, we have a deep talk about music, poetry, and my trip, and we end the conversation exchanging emails. I'm enchanted. I then go and sit under the Nepenthe sign and write this love song, the last song written at the end of trip one. It hits me, then. The spell seems to have been broken. In that moment, for the first time in a year, the sorrow has gone.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the album here

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