“I don’t remember thinking, ‘oh, I’m going to take up a new hobby.’ I would sit at the piano when I was very young and it felt natural,” Holly Macve tells me from her side of the screen, settling into frame among antique lampshades, swooping green houseplants, and paintings held in mismatched frames. While many of us grew up surrounded by our parents’ musical tastes — forever imbedding in us a sense of nostalgia when their favourite artists come up on shuffle — Macve was raised in a home that made a lot of the music she’d grow up to cherish. Her mother, who filled the walls with her love of old school blues, is a songwriter herself — and her grandfather, a classical musician.
“A lot of people think that music’s this kind of crazy idea, that it’s not a real job or whatever, but I think because I had my granddad as an influence in that way, I felt like it was something that I could do. And because my mom wrote songs, it didn’t seem like such a crazy idea.” Along with the support of her family, Macve found encouragement from her secondary school music teacher, who would write notes to get her out of classes so she could stay in music class and write, and eventually in listeners on SoundCloud as she started to share her voice with the world.
Now, Macve releases Time Is Forever, a time-capsule of a summer spent living in the outskirts of West London. “It was 2022 and I’d temporarily moved into a house with an ex-partner,” she shares. “It was towards the end of a relationship and it was quite a strange time in my life, I think, but this house had not been changed since the 50s — some of it maybe had been in the 70s.” As someone who often seeks something that no longer exists, Macve felt a sense of longing living in a place that was almost museum-like, though she knew in her core that the dream wouldn’t last forever. It is in this metaphysical, limbo-like space between reality and fantasy that she wrote what would become some of her greatest songs yet.
“Suburban House” and “1995”, two of Macve’s personal favourites, were written on the piano in this house, and came to fruition in a similar dream-like manner as the space itself. “They both came together without effort. It just felt like they came to me and that’s my favourite way of writing.”
“Suburban House”, which sits smack in the middle of her EP, was recorded with none other than Lana Del Rey — both an inspiration and a friend of Macve’s. “Lana followed me on Instagram some years ago and we just we connected. I think I messaged her something about how I was a big fan and said, ‘thanks for following,’ and then she sent a really, really lovely, sweet message back.” She lights up as she tells me about the moment. “She’s a real sweetheart and she’s so supportive of artists that she loves and I think that’s very cool for someone of her kind of status. She doesn’t really seem to care about the numbers or anything, if she likes something then she will pursue it.”
“We ended up meeting in person, she picked me up from a hotel that I was staying at in Los Angeles and we drove around LA listening to each other’s demos and we’ve become friends since. I went through this breakup that I was mentioning and she was like, ‘do you want to come stay for a while?’ So I went to visit and I played this song to her, ‘Suburban House’, and she ended up singing on it. It was a really amazing experience. When I heard her voice on it, it was like a dream, because obviously I’ve listened to her since I was really young as well and she’s an idol of mine as well.”
If this was a dream come true, what’s a dream for her future self? “I don’t know,” Macve tells me. “I have so many dreams, it’s kind of endless.” We can’t wait to watch them all come true.
Stream Time Is Forever…