Holly Golightly has been a survivor on the British garage-band circuit since the 90s, releasing 13 solo albums and more than 20 collaborative records. Long associated with Billy Childish and the Medway scene in Kent, she came to prominence with the riot grrrl-spirited Thee Headcoatees before striking out on her own and later with roots-rock duo The Brokeoffs.
Holly's new album, Look Like Trouble, is a collection of new alt.Americana songs with a distinctive English sensibility.
You recorded the new album in London with your longtime British band. How did it come together?
We did it at Gizzard [studio]. I’ve worked there for many years. I brought over songs I’d been sketching for six or seven years. We don’t rehearse, I just show the band my notes, and once we’re in the studio it becomes something else.
There’s a deep, dark quality to the song Black Tongue. What is a black tongue?
It’s a hex. In the South there’s a saying: if you speak badly about people, your tongue will go black. So the lyric is a kind of hoodoo warning. Not malicious, just tradition. It’s All is a very simple song, yet deeply resonant.
What was the inspiration?
I lost three close friends last year, musicians I’d known for decades. I couldn’t get back [to the UK] for their funerals, so I wrote the song for their memorials. It’s very simple: ‘We stumble through it all, we stand until we fall.’ That’s really all there is to say.
It’s seven years since your previous album. What kept you?
Covid happened. But I’ve always had a parallel career. Music has been a hobby to me. My day job is in the legal field, and I only get so much time off. When I come to England I’ve got to see my parents, my friends, play a London show, maybe tour, so recording often got squeezed out.
What took you to Georgia?
Owning land was always my childhood dream. In London I could have worked three jobs and never managed it, so I packed up the kitchen sink and went. Now I’ve got thirty acres with four horses, a donkey and a mini-mule. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s the life I wanted.
Do you have a bohemian mindset?
Yes. Both my parents were bohemians – they went to the Royal College of Art, never conformed. I grew up in that atmosphere. They were horrified when I said I wanted to be a riding instructor, then baffled when I started playing what they thought was very square music. But the ethos stuck: anyone can do what they like.
How did you come to sing that duet with Jack White?
I lived round the corner from Toe Rag [studio] when they [The White Stripes] were making Elephant [2003], and Meg [White] was staying at my flat. One night in a restaurant, Jack scribbled a lyric and said: “Let’s try this.” And that became our duet, It’s True That We Love One Another.
Look Like Trouble – is that how you think people see you?
That’s another Southern phrase: you should look like it but not be it. People sometimes think I’m aloof or difficult, but I’m not trouble at all.
Look Like Trouble is out now via Damaged Goods.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
