Today we are thrilled to introduce you to a singer-songwriter Holly Fitzgerald from West Midlands who stole our hearts, ears and who got our attention after releasing her latest single ‘The Tide’. We already reviewed the song and featured it as one of the best songs released during the week.
Holly manages to blend different genres and she already has quite a few of collaborations under her belt. You definitely need to listen to the songs in the background while you get to know Holly a little better.
It was a real pleasure to hear her story and now you can do that to! Introducing one and only Holly Fitzgerald!
You started your career back in 2017 with a cover of Kate Bush ‘Running Up That Hill’ back in 2017. Tell us about the journey until the moment your debut single ‘The Tide’ saw the light of day!
Wow, well a lot has happened since then! I released ‘Time’ straight after the Kate Bush cover and worked in this huge stately home to record the video, which was incredible. (It was at a place called Sandon Hall and it’s just stunning). Since then, I’ve been writing and releasing music, with lots of gigs and festivals thrown in along the way. I also had the opportunity to feature on a track with Birmingham based rapper T8PES which was really cool. After we released the single he decided he wanted to do some live sessions with myself, a guitarist and a cellist, but totally unplugged and right in the middle of a live audience. Which could be described as the world’s most chilled, atmospheric flash mob! Since then, I’ve really been working on my songwriting and instrumental abilities and that’s taken me down some very different routes. I have some new tracks that are wildly different in genre to what I’ve done before, but I like exploring my musical landscape, and I think that even though some tracks are really different, there’s still a definite theme tying them all together. Maybe it’s my penchant for the dramatic and slightly melancholic music…
I like exploring my musical landscape
HOLLY FITZGERALD
So far you were releasing 1 single a year. Was that intentional?
Honestly that happened for lots of different reasons but it started off because I had a production issue with my first few singles where I had to go and re-record a lot of material. After that I started to do most of the production work myself, which is a labour of love in itself! Take ‘The Tide’ for instance, I wrote it, performed it, recorded it, edited it, and then mixed it, so by the time it got to the mastering stage I was going a little crazy! It’s so time-consuming to produce your own material but I have outsourced production work for a few tracks and the mastering of ‘The Tide’ from Tom Brookhouse. Hopefully the next release will be out in a few months!!
I started to do most of the production work myself, which is a labour of love in itself!
HOLLY FITZGERALD
I noticed that with the release of ‘Telepathy’ your sound changed. It became more cinematic and haunting. What inspired this shift?
I tend to write what I feel, and sometimes songs can be a little like my diary. ‘Telepathy’ is one of my most personal songs because it’s so incredibly honest about how I feel, maybe that’s why the genre seems to shift a little into something more raw and atmospheric. On a musical note though, Telepathy was born from my acoustic guitar, where I was trialling playing in an alternative (DADGAD) tuning.
What does ‘The Tide’ means to you?
‘The Tide’ is about growing up, looking back on a situation and seeing it for its true form, without the “rose-tinted glasses.”
HOLLY FITZGERALD
It’s like you’re reading my diary and I’m looking back at a relationship I used to have with someone, and how for a certain amount of time, regardless of what happened, you still feel that sharp twinge when you hear their name.
As someone who’s been part of many bands and is used to performing live, how did you manage to survive the restriction of the world we live in?
The pandemic has been tough on everyone but having that creativity that comes with songwriting has really helped me through.
How do you think your life would change if communicating using telepathy was possible?
Ooh, that’s a good question… It depends on the type. If we’re saying telepathy was a skill we all had, and therefore we could filter what we send/say to each other, then not too much would change, but if I had the ability to read minds, completely unbound, that’d be WEIRD. Imagine just walking down the street and getting everyone’s thoughts and feelings! I feel like it’d probably start off as amusing but end up just feeling intrusive.
HOLLY FITZGERALD
What was the highlight of your career so far?
That’s a tricky question! I would say probably playing venues like the O2 and the Glee Club, but then I opened a festival main stage one year too which was awesome. Getting radio support is always amazing to me too, like getting played by the BBC, then doing a live session for them and then getting plays from stations in US and Australia. Actually I was also lucky enough to have a studio session with Ken Scott who showed me how he produced David Bowie’s ‘Hunky Dory’, that was pretty incredible.
These days, independent musicians have to wear many different hats. How do you manage it all?
It’s quite difficult to be honest! Obviously performing and songwriting is where I’m most comfortable, but what I didn’t realise when I first started is that you also have to learn to be a social media manager, a marketing director, and a brand manager to name a few! There’s lots to think about that you wouldn’t necessarily consider unless you’re in music, like PRS, PPL, MCPS were all things that I didn’t really know about. So in answer to your question, I’m not really sure, I just do my best to keep learning and working on it
Tell us more about your creative process? How do songs come to you?
That totally depends on my mood, but mostly I start with a guitar or a keyboard, then usually there’s a few chords floating around, maybe a riff or a melody. They kind of just appear to me as I sit at an instrument. After the original idea, I play around with some extra chords to see where the song feels like it’s heading, I kinda just let the music dictate the mood of the song. Then I’ll hum along to it, creating melodies as I go – it’s then when the song really starts to get some life, when a feeling or a mood is born. The next thing on my ‘creative list’ is lyrics, which is basically my diary/my commentary on what’s happening in the world at the time. The last parts are where I add instruments and play around with sounds in my DAW. Sometimes I’ll self-record everything and self-produce like I did for the Tide, other times I’ll hire session musicians to play my compositions and use a studio with a producer to complete the track.
I am really curious to hear what inspires you to share music with the world?
I like that music connects people, and that you can tell a story with a song, and somebody on the other side of the world can relate to it. That’s the best bit to me, it’s like this whole other world with this incredible communicative power. I think the whole “other world” thing is brought on by how immersive music is and how I can totally lose myself in it. Like I can sit and play piano and suddenly I’m not thinking of anything other than just feeling what I’m playing. I guess I’ve never really realised this before, but there’s this feeling of disconnecting from your surroundings when you write.
What would you like to be remembered for?
Is it too obvious to say my music? Obviously that would be amazing if I went down in history as a songwriter but mostly I’d like to be remembered as doing something good, and helping people in one way or another.
Close your eyes. Imagine its 20th of January 2022. How would you summarize 2021?
2021 has been a mixed bag really! It’s seen lots of highs and lows already, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to look back and say 2021 was the year everything went back to normal. I feel like quoting that song ‘We’ve Lost Dancing’, you know the line:
If I can live through this, what comes next will be marvellous
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience?
Yes, I have a gig July 2nd at the O2 Academy Birmingham! You can get tickets from my website, from ticketmaster, or bandsintown!
Make sure to connect with Holly Fitzgerald
This coverage was created in collaboration with Musosoup as part of the #SustainableCurator movement.
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