| Her Space Holiday is the brainchild of Marc Bianchi, a fellow who is so romantically fucked up and painfully honest that I can't help wanting to save him from all the bullshit that he's created and all of the tragedy that fills his life and songs. Or maybe it's all just fiction, in which case he deserves some credit for being a really crafty songwriter with a knack for seeming all too real. Wrapped up in the sweetest lullaby ballads, one might not even fully pick up on the emotional enormities that he is expressing within each of his songs. A quirkier, more electro-indie version of Bright Eyes, maybe; but super emotional and lovelorn, most definitely. In "Something To Do With My Hands" Bianchi sings about how he has managed to lure the girl of his dreams away from her clueless boyfriend. All the while, his own girlfriend remains in the dark about how much he's been fooling around ("Let your body sink into me / Like your favorite memory / Like a line of poetry / Or a fucking fit of honesty / So your boyfriend has no clue of how much I've been touching you"). Bianchi is such a charming asshole and suave, both poetically and musically, that it's too easy to sympathize with his misplaced emotions and shady morals. The theme of falling for the wrong girl at the wrong time continues in "Tech Romance" a song structured around a theatric melody while telling of the perfect cinematic kiss from "another film that won't get made" because the object of his fantasy is once again spoken for, this time by an undeserving creep. So that makes it okay, right? The most tear-jerking song, "Sleepy California" is a metaphor for being lost. It is also a dysfunctional apology to his mom for all those years they did not get along and to his late grandmother for his absence during her illness ("It's just sleepy California / But I hope they know how much I really care / How I want the best for them / Even though I am hardly there"). To all the woman he has loved and hurt, and been hurt by, The Young Machines is a beautiful bittersweet record - even if you aren't one of them. - Under the Radar |
2XLP/Out Of Print