“It was kind of premature to do a retrospective,” Her
Space Holiday frontman Marc Bianchi says of a recent LA event that
recalled his collaborative work with Japanese artist PCP. His tone is
humble, and a just tiny bit stilted—like a baby boomer that
earned a lifetime achievement award, but still has so much more to
contribute.
Much like a Her Space Holiday song, the rest of our phone
conversation is dense, sincere, and incredibly fluid. We talk about the
interplay of art and music, which leads to a discussion about artists
that have affected him—the Palace Brothers, director Lars von
Trier, and author John Fante are all on the list—and how the
impact of art changes as emotional response evolves with age.
Bianchi brings it all together, “As you get older, you get more
guarded with your emotions, and even when there’s tragedy, you have to
roll with things and let your emotions out later. Art is like a big
trigger, it unleashes that back catalogue of bullshit in your system.
It allows you to feel things that you can’t feel in the moment.”
Bianchi’s music under the Her Space Holiday umbrella deliberately
triggers a vast range of emotions: melancholy, nostalgia, and
hopefulness all easily come to mind. His newest album, XOXO, Panda
and the New Kid Revival, does away with Postal Service-esque beeps
and clicks, evolving his sound from indie-electronica to stripped-down
singer/songwriter fare. His new style puts Bianchi’s knack for writing
sweet, compelling tunes on full display.
Over a simple meandering guitar melody and rhythm of tapping
drumsticks, “The Year in Review” embodies that feeling of time slipping
away as Bianchi sings, “If time is measured in memories, don’t set your
clock to misery/The clicks should come from what you got, not the
things you lost.”
He explains, “When I was younger, I thought when I hit my 30s, I’d
just reach this point where there are certain truths and contentment.
I’m learning now, there isn’t this definitive moment in your life when
things make sense. I don’t fantasize about the future anymore, and that
it’s going to bring some ultimate salvation. I’m just taking it day by
day, and there’s a lot more peace with that outlook.”