Indies Introduce Q&A with Holly Brickley

Holly Brickley is the author of Deep Cuts, a Winter/Spring 2025 Indies Introduce adult selection, and March 2025 Indie Next List pick.

Sophie Chen of Belmont Books in Belmont, Massachusetts, served on the bookseller panel that selected Brickley’s debut for Indies Introduce.

She said of the book, “Deep Cuts is the ultimate love letter to music. Structured like a mixtape, each chapter is named after a different track, and listening to the songs while reading greatly enhances the experience. Percy is an unforgettable protagonist — messy in the best way — and I couldn’t get enough of her will-they-won’t-they with Joe. A must-read for anyone who knows the definition of ‘Indie Sleaze.’ ”

Sophie Chen: Hello. My name is Sophie Chen, and I'm a bookseller at Belmont Books, an indie bookstore located in Belmont, Massachusetts, right outside of Boston. I'm thrilled today to be talking to Holly Brickley, author of Deep Cuts.

Holly Brickley studied English at UC Berkeley and received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Originally from Hope, British Columbia, she now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two daughters. Deep Cuts is her first novel. Thank you for joining me, Holly!

Holly Brickley: Thank you so much for having me! This is such an honor.

SC: I just want to start off by saying, I really love the book. It was just so well done.

HB: Oh, thank you.

SC: This book is such a love letter to music. I'm curious to hear, what's your relationship to music? Do you have a musical background or anything like that?

HB: I don't. I'm strictly an appreciator, like Percy, who's my protagonist. I did often think about music journalism as a potential career, but I never pursued it because it would not allow me to make things up. Fiction is really my first love.

I did grow up in a very musical family. My dad wrote pop and R&B songs — Chuck Brickley — he wrote songs for singers in the Vancouver area throughout the ’90s. My uncle, Tim Brickley, is also a really talented musician, so I grew up in an environment where it was totally normal to hear a song on the radio and one member of the family to say, “This chorus is so moving.” Then somebody else would say, “But the verses really drag,” and we would all analyze it together as a family.

It was some time before I realized that this is not how most people talk about music, and they actually find it rather annoying. But I kept it with me, this impulse to listen really deeply to the songs that I love.

SC: It definitely comes across in the book, that real appreciation of music. The whole book is structured like a mix tape, with every chapter named after a song that's featured in that chapter. What was your process for picking the songs that were used in the book? Did you have any favorites that didn't make the cut?

HB: Oh, my god, so many. Starting with the process, it was really dictated by the story. I would have a narrative need to fill, and then I would pick a song that I thought could accomplish that. That happened pretty naturally. I have enough songs taking up space in my brain that I could just pluck one out.

Occasionally it was a struggle, if I had kind of gotten myself into a corner. There's a chapter near the end called “Someone Great,” which is an LCD Soundsystem song. I knew the song would have to do some heavy lifting, because it was a real turning point for my character, but I knew I wanted it to happen at a show. I was literally googling “San Francisco live music 2007,” looking at set lists, trying to find the right song that could do what I needed it to. But then that song — the lyrics and the music of that song — really formed the shape of her epiphany. So now it's impossible to imagine it being anything else.

There were a few times where it was fully the other way around. I heard a song that inspired a narrative choice. “What Makes You Think You're the One” by Fleetwood Mac just came on my shuffle while I was in the shower, and I thought, “Wow, this sounds like my characters talking to each other.” I went back and inserted something; a whole plot point came out of that. So, the songs and the texts really fed into each other, in both directions.

SC: Nice! As I was reading each chapter, I would listen to the songs during it, and I felt like it really enhanced the whole experience. Do you have any expectations of how readers will interact with the book?

HB: That's what I would do. I think a lot of people are stopping and listening to the songs, but I think others keep reading, and then later, when they're in the car or washing dishes, they'll put on the songs and think about what they read earlier. I think that's fine, too.

Some might not be interested enough in the music part of it to really explore beyond the text, and that's okay. I think that the story will stand on its own. I personally find that hard to relate to, but I don't want to dictate how the reader does their thing.

SC: Yeah. I want to talk a little bit about the characters in the book. Percy, the protagonist, is such a strong, well-developed character who is incredibly opinionated and really vulnerable, but guarded, and I'm curious to hear how her character developed.

HB: I started with the parts of myself that I hate: my critical nature, my complete lack of musical ability, and even more than that, my envy of people who have musical talent. I started with that and ran with it. She very quickly became her own person, because the plot and the backstory were all fictional, so she evolved from that, but that was the starting point — to explore the parts of my brain that don't make sense to me and haven't budged much.

I'm really glad you love her. I love her too, and she made me love myself more. I know that sounds cheesy, but I wrote my way through some stuff.

SC: How much do your musical opinions overlap with hers?

HB: Like, 100%. Roughly.

SC: Yeah, I was reading this, and I was like, “This is someone that knows music and has really strong feelings about music.”

HB: I have really strong feelings, and I know my little corner of the music world. I don't consider myself an expert, I just know what I like, and I think really hard about it. But I had fun with this book, it was a joy to write, and so I wasn't doing research, I was just doing whatever I wanted. I didn't want to write about songs that I don't love. The most research I did was for 2007 San Francisco shows.

SC: I didn't realize that it was so true to what was going on in history, like those actual shows were happening, the actual details.

HB: The actual shows did happen — I was at most of them. I was not at that one, I just needed that song. That was at Mezzanine in San Francisco. There's one other thing where they didn't play — I don't think Interpol played NYC — but it's all real for the most part.

SC: Early in the book, Percy redefines “deep cuts” — which is such a good title for the book as well — and she defines it as songs that cut to the bone and stick with you. Are there any songs, or even books, that you'd consider “deep cuts?”

HB: Anyone who knows me well would know that my first answer is the song “Couldn't Call It Unexpected Number Four” by Elvis Costello, which is a deep cut by both the traditional meaning and especially by Percy's meaning. It's on the album Mighty Like a Rose, but you can find my favorite version on YouTube at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1991. I can't even think about it without wanting to cry. It's a song about death and mourning, and it's very existential, but also very life affirming. So that's my obvious answer.

I would also say Nat King Cole's Christmas song — you know that that song, “Chestnuts roasting…” — the classic. This is also an outtake. You asked earlier about songs that didn't make the cut. There's actually a lot of songs by him that would qualify, but that's the one I hear the most. His voice is like a pat of melted butter, just sliding around this gorgeously balanced melody. I melt a little every time I hear it, especially that time of year. I'm always carrying so much tension in my body, and it's just amazing to be able to put on a song and just be shot through with peace.

You mentioned books too. The one that really feels like the deepest cut is called a Feather on the Breath of God by Sigrid Nunez. It's her first book. I read it when I was a teenager, during my first year in college. I don't even know how I discovered it, but because I was so young, it just wedged itself into my DNA. I still think about it, and I think there are elements of my writing style that that shaped.

SC: Nice! I'm always so interested to hear what really sticks with people when they're young, and the way that shapes the rest of your life. That was definitely a big part of the book, the way that music has dictated all of their lives.

HB: And helped them communicate with each other when they would have been struggling otherwise, because they were young.

SC: Absolutely. Anything else that you want to mention or talk about?

HB: I'm just so thrilled to be an Indies Introduce pick, and especially to be picked by booksellers who are the most important part of this whole ecosystem. So thank you. It's a wonderful honor.

SC: This book was definitely an early favorite of everyone’s.

HB: That's awesome!

SC: Well, it was great talking to you. I feel like I could talk music all day.

HB: I know! I want to know what your deep cuts are!

SC: I absolutely blame you for getting me back into the Shins, like, hardcore. Reading this book, I was like, “Oh, I forgot how good they are.”

HB: So good, so good. All right, have a great day, Sophie, thanks again.

SC: Yeah, you too. Thank you.

Find out more about the author at hollybrickley.com

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