Songs of addiction, grief, family history and New York City.  Holly Lovell paints a vivid picture of “a person that mattered” on her new album, Hello Chelsea.

Release Date:  7^th February 2025

Label: Self Release

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

A PERSON THAT MATTERED…

We’ve had advance notice of this one in the shape of singles Lion’s Den and When Did I Lose You and, just a couple of weeks ago, the album’s title track, Hello Chelsea. Now the eagerly anticipated album is with us. A collection of songs that deal, vividly and uncompromisingly, with subjects that include grief, loss, healing, addiction, family history and the ups and downs of life in New York City. Holly Lovell paints a vivid picture of “a person that mattered.”

Raised in Australia, before relocating to Denver, Colorado, Holly Lovell has been writing songs and playing guitar since she was just 13 years old, often with younger brother Caleb in tow.  Holly cites Bruce Springsteen, Patty Griffin and Brandi Carlile as key influences. Hello Chelsea is her second full-length album and follows her acclaimed debut, Still Frames (2016).

INTENSITY TO SHAKES LEAVES FROM THE TREES

Hello Chelsea was recorded and produced in Eau Claire, out in the wild woods of Wisconsin. Producer Brian Joseph leads a stellar team of musicians that includes Courtney Hartman on guitars and vocals, Shane Leonard on drums and percussion, Steve Garrington on bass and synth, Ben Lester on pedal steel and synth and Steve Carey on piano and vocals.  Holly plays her acoustic guitar and piano and delivers her vocals with an intimacy and intensity capable of shaking the leaves from the trees.  There’s no question. She means what she’s saying.

LIGHTHEARTED

It all starts off in such a lighthearted mood. Holly opens the album with a bunch of friends, singing a carefree blast of the final verse of Sinatra’s New York, New York as they head (for home, I’m guessing…) on a subway train.  But, that’s about as bright and optimistic as it gets before Holly opens her heart to us with her catalogue of well-observed woes.

The lead single, Louis And Me, gets Hello Chelsea properly underway.  The album’s signature intimacy is there from the start. Indeed, Holly sounds almost as though she’s whispering her lyrics directly into your ear. She seems to be singing just for you, and you alone.  The band file in gradually to add substance to Holly’s acoustic guitar and they sound bright, clean and fresh.  There’s a note of anguish in Holly’s voice but the overall impact of the song is warm and dreamy.

I’VE GOTTA GET OUT OF NEW YORK CITY

Speaking about the album’s title track (and latest single), Holly says: “I have a love/hate relationship with New York City.  The hustle and bustle make everything feel possible, the sheer magnitude makes you feel empowered in your anonymity, but the veil is very this and if you’re there long enough, it tears, and you realise that this city is living and breathing and might just eat you up.  This song is a letter to Chelsea and to the greater animal of New York City.”  It’s a highly listenable song and Holly makes her point well, as she sings: “I’ve gotta get out of New York City – I used to love it, but now it kills me.” The bubbly synth accompaniment adds a dose of street reality to Holly’s vulnerable vocal delivery.

And Holly’s frustration with the intensity of New York life is explored further with the slow-paced, world-weary If I Had My Way.  It’s a song that I can easily imagine Suzanne Vega tackling and Holly is abetted by Ben Lester’s sparkling beams of pedal steel as she builds her vision of escape from New York’s relentless assault on her senses.

ADDICTION AND LOSS

Recent single Lion’s Den is, maybe, the album’s starkest, bleakest song.  Holly’s lyrics – “I had a relapse, I had a comeback, I had a letdown feeling stuck on repeat” and “I never understand who has the upper hand – I’m one in the same, both the slave and the chain” amongst them – describe the desperation and isolation of addiction from the addict’s own perspective.  Holly lost her deeply-loved uncle to addiction and her belief in the words she sings comes across in her every nuance.  As she explains: “This song built my empathy and helped me move forward in my grief.”

Anger and hurt are evident in equal measures in Holly’s delivery of the excellent When Did I Lose You. Another of the singles that previewed Hello Chelsea.  A chronicle of the chaos and confusion that defines a disintegrating relationship. Speaking of the song , Holly said: “This song is about losing someone little by little, so slowly that, by the time you wake up to it, you can’t quite figure out how long you’ve been sitting there alone.  There is a breakdown at the end where we literally recorded ourselves wailing and screaming.  I was worried that it was too much at first. In the end, I chose to keep it because, when I listen to it, it’s the release of grief from the body.” 

That release of grief is there for all to hear as Holly loses herself completely in the drama of the song and that cacophonous climax.

DARK AND SPARSE

The sparse and unconventional accompaniment lends a Lou Reed feel to I Love You.  Holly manages to be both tender and uncompromising as she sings lyrics like: “We tease our love up with all this bullshit, trying to make it seem foolish so we don’t loose it.  But it’s a front, needing constant upkeep to not fall flat and let the other see.” Her switching voice tones echo that conflict between tender submission and steely determination.

And the mood gets, if anything, darker still for Grief. A deep contemplation of the desolation of loss.  The accompaniment is pared right back – often to just acoustic guitar – so that we’re left almost alone with Holly’s voice. She tells us: “Wanna see a blue sky, but I am chaos inside.” When the band finally strike up for the lengthy coda, the sound is almost elegiac.

WHERE DO YOUR SYMPATHIES LIE?

Helpless Mother is a wonderfully accurate observation of the unconditional commitment of motherhood. Performed and delivered with care and precision, it’s followed  by Selling Your Shoes. A short home demo of a piano ballad that manages to pack a lot into its 90-second duration, before Holly turns her attention to the members and dynamics of her nearest and dearest, with Family.  Mother, father, brother, grandmother and grandfather all get a mention as Holly considers what they all mean to each other and how they all interact.  The song gathers pace as the initial intimacy is replaced by band unity and Holly sings: “I hide out with my family, gather them up all around me, and I give to them what they gave to me and, one-by-one, they return to me.”

It’s almost over, but not quite.  There’s time and space for one final song of loss and grief. Quite appropriately the full band have stepped aside. Holly remains with just piano and guest Matthew Tiller’s clarinet for the atmospheric 100 Different Ways.  Indeed, the sparse production adds intensity to the sense of loneliness and desolation that Holly Lovell conveys with lyrics like: “I’ve grieved for you 100 different ways – even before you were gone, it’s always been this way.” 

Wherever your sympathies may lie before you listen to Hello Chelsea, by the end of the album, they’ll lie wholly with Holly Lovell.

Listen to When Did I Lose You, one of the album’s singles, here:

Holly Lovell online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube / Spotify

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