Boulder musician Drew Hersch describes his upcoming album SUNBURNS as a glass of white wine.
“[It] can be dangerous when you’re heartbroken,” he says. “Is it going to calm you down? Make you laugh? Make you cry?”
Like any good intoxicant, Hersch’s sophomore LP might just do all three. It’s a genre-defying breakup album touching on the stages of grief following a romantic split. His biggest fear with the project? Being perceived as a bummer.
That might sound surprising for an artist who titled his 2020 debut sad boy summer, a freewheeling collection of bedroom indie-pop tracks covering themes like unrequited crushes. Hersch considers the all-caps SUNBURNS a sequel to his debut album with a bigger, more experimental sound.
The 23-year-old is the sole creative vision behind his work, directing his own music videos and doing his own cover art and marketing. Since launching the project in 2018, Hersch says the object has always been to shake things up — but that mission took on a new urgency with SUNBURNS.
“I tend to make my arrangements theatrical, jarring and dramatic, which I played into on this album because it was inspired by a very painful breakup,” says the former theater kid. “I wanted the album to capture the intensity of that emotion.”
Processing that level of feeling on his own has come at a cost. Carrying the creative load on his shoulders means taking longer than he might like to bring his work to audiences, stretching his creative limits in the process.
“I started some of these songs in the fall of ’23, and I’m just finishing them,” Hersch says. “Doing it all myself is a commitment because of how heavy the theme was. It tested my loyalty to my art. I wanted to give up so many times and just stop writing about this.”
‘The whole spectrum of grief’
Without much of an audience to share his art with, Hersch questioned why he was drawn to a project involving his deepest pain. He sometimes wondered if it was worth locking himself into album mode for a year, especially when friends and family became tired of hearing him talk about it.
“What am I doing this for?” Hersch asked himself throughout the process. “And why am I so inclined to make an hour and 20 minute-long project that’s about my deepest pain, when I should be just moving on?”
Hersch’s family implored him to do just that, assuming the album was a sign he hadn’t processed his previous relationship. Although Hersch felt moved on from the relationship itself, he didn’t feel done with SUNBURNS.
“Making songs about emotions I didn’t feel anymore was interesting,” he says. “I recorded some of the saddest songs I wrote a year ago toward the end of the process, with a total smile on my face because of how good they sounded.”
Although Hersch thinks he’s done making breakup albums for the foreseeable future, he hopes SUNBURNS will inspire listeners to put more of themselves out into the world. That’s why he provided “a song for everyone,” commenting on the distinct moods and phases that come with a romantic meltdown.
He crafted an ode to the post-breakup promiscuous phase with club bangers “PPM” and “Harlow’s Pit of Despair.” The period of sentimental reflection is represented by the weepy twang of tracks like“Summer Again.” The anger stage of grief is personified through big drums and electric guitar in “Miss Universe” and the title track.
“I love when genres represent emotions, especially with a breakup album,” Hersch says. “You feel the whole spectrum of grief.”
‘It’s everything’
A 2023 CU Boulder graduate and current resident of the People’s Republic, the city’s surrounding landforms and seasons also inspire Hersch’s art.
“I want some of my songs to sound like running up the creek path in the summer,” he says. “I want some of my songs to sound like driving along Canyon in the winter. It’s a beautiful place to base music around.”
But while the end result on his latest album is embedded in heartbreak, the last thing Hersch wants at his upcoming release celebration at Trident on Dec. 6 is to elicit pity from the audience. He hopes his live performance can provide everything from reflection and catharsis to a celebratory dance party. Whatever your poison, he’s got a concoction for you.
“It’s a very white wine album,” Hersch says. “But it’s also whiskey. It’s also tequila. It’s everything.”
ON THE BILL: Drew Hersch SUNBURNS album release show. 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, Trident Booksellers and Cafe, 940 Pearl St. Free