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MH-260 Her Space Holiday - XOXO, Panda And The New Kid Revival  Putting some space between himself and the computer that has provided the basis for so much of his recent work, Marc Bianchi has taken the last two years to focus on what got him into music in the first place, writing connective songs and working out the layers of sound he hears in his head. The results are a new persona, XOXO, Panda, and the reinforcement of the feelings of personal and artistic freedom that drive his music. Loose and carefree arrangements of guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, shakers, glockenspiel, and drums lay the foundation for vocal storytelling sing-a-longs. XOXO, Panda And The New Kid Revival is a brilliant calling card for Her Space Holiday’s newly awakened alter-ego, and a watershed moment in his growth as a songwriter and performer. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| Guitar pop songs that are as charming as they are simple - Rolling Stone / That he can switch up styles so frequently and make solid records says something special about Bianchi - Pop Matters / Melodies have that wonderful undefinable quality that makes you want to hear them over and over... Killer indie pop cuts - Babysue |
| Her Space Holiday, otherwise known as one-man outfit Mark Bianchi, has not had it easy. Since 1997 and debut record The Astronauts Are Sleeping Bianchi has taken flak for being soppy, syrupy, a touch one-dimensional and, despite beating them to the term indietronic by some years, sounding like a substandard version of The Postal Service. Throughout it all though a defiant, devoted, and slowly expanding group of fans have supported him. But XOXO, Panda And The New Kid Revival might even be too much for them. Bianchi's sixth album in a decade see, marks his first true departure from the established Her Space Holiday sound. And while unplugging all computers and synths and writing this record with a folk and jam-orientated rock sound is the sort of move that could have marked Bianchi out as a genuinely great songwriter regardless of technique or type, here it never quite works. Instead the shift has done a pretty nifty job of removing his music's individual aspects, trimming back its personality, and blending it in with the alt rock crowd. OK so Her Space Holiday has never been a place to come for challenging new ideas or utterly original musings but behind a laptop, after almost a decade of electronic melancholy, Bianchi has proven he can excel. Admittedly he's never made a classic record there but he’s certainly created some perfect tracks to hinge the things on. Almost the whole of XOXO… though, feels flat, weak, and tired. The main refrain of "The New Kid Revival" ("If they tell us that we're doing it wrong, we'll just turn up the sound of our songs") suggests Bianchi doesn't care what the critics say but without the normal HSH flourishes you could turn this up to 11 and still not hear enough differences from track to track. We're not saying Bianchi had to repeat the same formula forever - people had already started to call him on that - but perhaps a slow change or a subtle shift would have worked better. And doubts about the musical switch aside, this is a record sailing wide of top marks because of plain production, stuck-in-a-rut mid-tempo pace, and being about four tracks too long too. Sure, the changes will be seen as no great shakes by some, perhaps as just a temporary glitch for others, and hell, it must be nice for Bianchi to break free of his wires, but moving on isn't always healthy and Her Space Holiday is decidedly worse off for the main man's relocation. Shame. - New Noise |
