Holly Macve at The Lexington

Holly Macve

Aimee Fatale

The Lexington, 8 March 2025

It's been eight years since I've seen Holly Macve live, and she has fully abandoned her country stylings to go the Lana Del Rey route of dark, atmospheric pop. She is still lovely but this was a very different show than the acoustic folky vibes of the St. John show I saw all those years ago.

Many years ago someone on social media recommended Holly Macve to me and I was immediately taken by her debut album, Golden Eagle, released by Bella Union: it was dark and melancholy, with a country twang but also the late night atmosphere of Lana Del Rey. She definitely had a bit of a Wicked Game by Chris Isaak vibe and her country croon made her sound like Patsy Cline by the way of Twin Peaks. When I went to see her live, at an old church in London, she looked like she came from another era with a flowing long dress and big hat, looking like she should be hanging out in Laurel Canyon in 1970 and sounding it too.

In the intervening years Macve seems to have cut ties with her old label Bella Union, and perhaps because of this it took another four years before her follow-up Not The Girl turned up, which saw her beginning to move from the country sound of her debut. Eventually she moved to Los Angeles, and has seemingly taken inspiration from her new home, transforming her look into an classic Hollywood starlet, while befriending none other than Lana Del Rey herself, who said Macve "had one of the most beautiful singing voices in the world." Not surprisingly, Del Rey turns up on her new record, Wonderland, duetting on the song Suburban House.

Macve is now a darling with the dedicated Del Rey crowd and I witness this first hand tonight, as there are mostly men around me wearing Lana tees and jackets. I get the feeling they didn't see Macve in her flowing dress country era. That said, this is still a small venue she's playing, which is more than alright with me.

Macve's set starts with a black and white film showing clips from Disney's Alice In Wonderland, only this time it's called Holly In Wonderland, and she emerges looking like the most glamorous Alice since, I guess, Gwen Stefani, although Gwen was more anime Alice, Holly is old school Hollywood glam tonight, wearing a snow white dress and bleached blonde curls. She looks incredible, I must say, and fits right in among the flowers covering the stage.

She begins singing the lonesome sounding title track of the new album, accompanied by a backing track and a film behind her showing retro images that fit the mood of the song. She picks up her electric guitar for the next song, San Fran Honey, again with images projected behind her while she plays. Although Macve's voice is always the star here and the main attraction, I do prefer the moments when she is playing an instrument, although when she sings and walks around the stage you can tell she would be mesmerising fronting a band, there's just something a little more special seeing her playing the guitar or playing the keyboards. She may well have re-invented herself as a Lana Del Rey type but I do feel she is a true old school singer-songwriter at heart. In fact my favourite moment of the night is when she plays a completely acoustic version of the song Colour Them Gold (which she tells us was inspired by being depressed and then driving out to the desert and watching the stars), which sounds like a modern day Joni Mitchell number. It's truly lovely and I would not have minded one bit if the whole gig had been like this, it's still as atmospheric as any of the backing tracks and retro films, if not more so.

During the song Beauty Queen, Macve dons a tiara and sings in front of the screen showing a film of her looking like Marilyn Monroe in a 40s-style swimsuit on the beach, crooning "be free beauty queen", eventually taking the tiara and bestowing to a member of the audience (she did look at me briefly but I think I was too old to take the crown! She rightly gave it to a younger woman who looked thrilled to receive it.)

Before Coldwater Canyon she tells us she was in an accident where she crashed her rental car on Mulholland Drive (very Lynchian!), but despite flipping her car she emerged completely unscathed, but with a newfound appreciation of being alive. The next day she was in the studio recording with Lana Del Rey and the events inspired the song. It certainly sounds full of love and joy tonight, as she plays the keyboard and sings her sultry heart out. 

Near the end she asks the audience if we want to hear an old song or a new one and surprisingly most shout for a new one and she tells us this is a song she has just written last week before launching into a haunting number called Dancing Shoes. Again, because it's completely new and maybe even its debut tonight, this song features just Macve on guitar, with no backing track (although there is a film playing showing footage of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers), and it's truly spell-binding.

The night ends of course with her Lana Del Rey collaboration, Suburban House, and has her playing the haunting refrain on the rose-covered keyboard and is greeted enthusiastically by the audience. It's lovely and atmospheric and, with no encore, is the perfect way to end the show.

This is definitely a new era for Macve and interesting that the whole show was dedicated to the new album and she didn't play one older song. She is certainly a mesmerising performer and although incredibly soft spoken when she speaks, her voice soars and swoons when she sings. I would say she's found her natural audience with the Del Rey crowd but it's hard to say really as I'm not sure she has the magnetism of her mentor that makes Del Rey such a perfect pop star, but it would be nice for her to be discovered by a larger audience. This was certainly a different show from the last time so it will be interesting to see how she continues to evolve but I'm glad I got to see and hear Macve live again in such a small setting.

Opening for Macve tonight was the equally entrancing Aimee Fatale, who looked like she came straight out of the 60s, with her Sharon Tate hair and white embroidered mini dress, while her all-male band were all dressed in smart black shirts, almost the reverse of that Robert Palmer video. The music though was a little more shoegazing than the image suggests, with dreamy vocals over a swirling guitar-based backdrop. 

The second song Dog, saw her almost speak-singing, pleading "give me what I want, give me what I what" over a grooving guitar riff. By the third song she had taken up (a very retro-looking) guitar herself, picking up the pace on a song called Apple Of My Eye which gave Wolf Alice vibes. 

I think my favourite song of her set, Lord Have Mercy On Me, though came near the end, which slowly built from whispery vocals to Fatale finally belting out "I have to run, I have to run" showcasing her strong soulful vocals.

Fatale has been compared to Lana Del Rey too, which on the whole I feel she has a more indie guitar sound than the pop icon, but I definitely hear it on the song Let's Get Married, which is the most pop of her set and could definitely be a single, and on the final track Is Love Real?, for which the band leaves her alone on stage, with a swelling orchestral keyboard backing accompanies her sultry vocals.

I was impressed enough that on the way out I picked up her demo CD and she signed it for me, and she laughed saying she almost didn't come out because she wasn't sure anyone would want to buy anything, yet as I left there were plenty of people crowding around her and admiring her set. 

After the response she had tonight and the quality of the show, I definitely can imagine her finding a dedicated audience. There's a contemporary edge to her retro sounds and she looked absolutely amazing in her 60s-inspired outfit. All in all the perfect fit for tonight's show, making it a very enjoyable gig overall.