Her Space Holiday, with Lymbyc Systym

Like Casiotone for the Painfully Alone or Say Hi, Her Space Holiday perfects the delicate balance of deadpan bittersweetness. Over the past decade, Marc Bianchi, the primary force behind the San Mateo, California-based project, has crafted lo-fi electronic odes that meld the Notwist's indie beats with Bright Eyes' hopeless romanticism. It was Bianchi's three year-stint in Texas, however, that produced his best work, the heartbroken IDM missives of 2003's exceptional The Young Machines (Mush). Yet after 2005's The Past Presents the Future (Wichita), Bianchi seemed to fade into the fragments of his own disillusion, emerging only intermittently behind various new monikers like XOXO Panda and elaborate collaborations like his stunning illustrated book The Telescope with Japanese artist PCP. It's not surprising, then, that when Her Space Holiday returned earlier this year announcing the September release of a new album, XOXO Panda and the New Kid Revival, Bianchi had abandoned his trademark bedroom beats. Now performing as a full band, Her Space Holiday maintains Bianchi's familiar caustic playfulness, but lilting under an exuberant garage-pop flair. Brothers Jared and Michael Bell open with Lymbyc Systym's glitch-fueled post-rock.