In Conversation With #099 - Holly Humberstone
Hotly tipped to keep an eye on for 2020 domination - Holly Humberstone has just released her debut EP ‘Falling Asleep At The Wheel’. She took a moment to talk to us about poetry, burning cars and how the EP came together.
Hey Holly! How are you? So the debut EP is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
It feels so crazy! I feel like I’ve been working on it for so long and its taken ages for me to get right. A lot of the writing process was me experimenting and discovering who I was within the music I was making, and working through experiences and feelings I’ve had in the past few years. It’s been such a journey and I’m so excited for people to hear it as a whole project.
It is titled ‘Falling Asleep At The Wheel’ - does that hold a certain meaning?
Falling Asleep At The Wheel was written about a relationship losing momentum and turning a bit sour. We wrote it at my home, which is very old and pretty quirky, and I feel like you can kind of hear the weird and wonky sounds of the house within the track. Its a really important one for me because it was the first song I’d written that I felt was truly me. I realised my musical identity with this song and knew the direction I wanted to head in sonically.
The EP was produced by Rob Milton - who has worked with the likes of Easy Life. How was that experience and how did that partnership come about?
Rob used to be the lead singer of a band that was really popular around Nottingham when I was in school called Dog Is Dead, and I believe he had heard a local BBC session I had done and reached out to work together. I was really nervous the first time we met but we just happened to click and work really well together.
We can sense a lot of poetry influences on this EP too, do you read are certain writers?
My dad has always been really obsessed with poetry, and he used to read it to us growing up so I’ve always been a bit of a fan. I love poets like Leonard Cohen and T.S.Eliot, and I remember my dad placing books in front of me at the piano when I was younger, and id make up little songs to the poetry.
Your track ‘Drop Dead’ features a video of a burning car - what is the meaning behind that and did that car belong to anyone?
That car is my dad’s and we decided to use it as a recurring theme in the videos for the EP. I’ve actually failed my driving test more times than I like to admit, so I thought I’d cover it in Learner plates and burn it down in protest for the Drop Dead video, which is the last video for the EP.
What are the key themes and influences on this EP?
I think the influences for the EP is just things I’ve been though over the last few years, and my relationships with various different people and how they made me feel. A lot of the time writing is a bit of a therapy session for me, and it helps me to work out how I feel about certain things. Perhaps that’s why a lot of the lyrics are so deeply personal and honest.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP? If so which one and why?
I think my favourite lyric on the EP is the first line of overkill, ‘A couple more tequilas, and I’ll tell you how I’m feeling’. I remember the day we wrote overkill and it was genuinely one of the best days for me just because we were writing about something positive I was going through and we were just so excited. that first line had kind of come out of nowhere and we were just screaming it for ages and laughing because we knew we were onto something so good.
Now the EP is out there - what next?
I’m really enjoying writing for my next project already! I have so much more music I’m excited about which is a really nice feeling. i’m also looking forward to playing my first headline shows later this year if they go ahead. I’ve only ever played support tours so having my own show is gonna be so cool.