Holographica was birthed by musician and songwriter, Thom Cooper from the safe, suburban suffocation of Southern California’s, Orange County in 2022. His songs blend influences of alternative rock, post-punk, indie rock, shoegaze and probably others that he doesn’t even realize at the moment. The end result: a raw, sometimes danceable, sometimes head-shakeable stream of sounds that are moving, emotional, energetic and thought provoking.
While the through line of Holographica is that our entire shared, experienced universe is made of many illusions both seen and unseen, themes span a range of subjects: sci-fi stories, the devolution of our society at all social levels, painful states of mind and perspectives on life and living today and tomorrow. Holographica’s first record, an independently produced and released EP titled, Invisible. Light. Spectrum. is a sci-fi concept starting with humanity’s last days on Earth, culminating in a song about a failed mission to colonize a new planet.
Cooper took some time to answer my questions about one of the EP highlights, “Different Now”.
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The Indy Review: What sparked the initial inspiration for “Different Now”?
Thom Cooper: Holographica’s new EP, Invisible. Light. Spectrum. is essentially a sci-fi concept that picks up at the last days of humanity’s life on Earth. So this first song, “Different Now” is meant to be about the last baby to be born on the planet before a supernova consumes it. While that ties into the concept component of the album’s theme, the true inspiration for the lyrical content is really based on my fear and self doubt regarding becoming a father for the first time. Coming from a less than optimal family situation and ultimately struggling somewhat in early life because of it, led to this fear of not being adequately prepared for fatherhood and created a desire to not have a repeating family pattern (“…does broken equal, broken?”) and whether or not I can be a proper dad (“…not sure that I can be your hero”). I will say that now several years after his birth, it’s all good (ha!) but there were definitely some initial worries that fueled the lyrics of “Different Now”.
IR: Were there any specific musical influences you brought in when writing the song?
TC: Not really anything that was highly intentional – when writing songs my process is generally to try and write them from a “stream of consciousness” or organically occurring perspective. That being the case, I’ll just sit down with a drum track and start riffing on it, until I come up with something that I like. Of course the music that has influenced me throughout my life comes through loud and clear in everything I create – generally speaking I think the synths and ambient guitars may come from the 80’s sound, but also from my appreciation of some of the chill wave bands of the mid 2010’s. The jangly guitars to me have elements of 90’s and 2000’s post-punk and indie rock.
IR: Did you compose all the elements of the track? What was the recording process like?
TC: I did compose (and record, except vocals) all the elements of “Different Now”, as well as all the songs on Invisible. Light. Spectrum. The process for creating the new EP started with me hauling my recording equipment into a nearby rehearsal studio to record multiple songs worth of drums in one session. With no songs in mind yet, I recorded 9 or 10 songs worth of drums. Essentially, I’ll play an intro drum part and add in some different drum parts that will translate into verses, choruses and bridges in an eventual song. I did the recording myself using a Tuscan digital 24-track recorder and a range of mics on the drums.
Next step in the process is to bring those drum tracks back to my home studio and then I’ll sit with a guitar or bass and listen to the drums tracks and essentially try a ton of different guitar parts until something starts to feel good. If nothing on guitar seems to be connecting with the drums, I’ll switch over to the bass instead, and following that process almost always find something there that I can lead with. I’ll then record the guitars over the bass and drums. Once I have solid bass and guitar tracks in place, I’ll go back and add texture or ambience with additional effected guitar tracks and some synth. After layering in those various pieces and getting to a place where I’m pretty happy with what I’m hearing, it is time for vocals.
I’ll usually sit with paper and a pen and just listen to the songs a million times and start getting lyrics written out. For this particular record, I went to Recess Studios in Santa Ana, CA. and recorded the vocals with my friend, Hunter McKellar who also mixed all the songs on Invisible Light Spectrum. Ultimately out of 8 or 9 songs, 5 made the cut for the EP. Who knows, maybe I’ll do something with the others at some point.
IR: There’s a dreaminess to the song, but also some heavy moments where the guitars and drums go to a darker place. What led you to insert these breakdowns in the song?
TC: Yes! Thanks for noticing that. The dreaminess piece, I believe is where I most like to, “exist” within most of the songs I write; I think with this particular tune focusing on the theme of self doubt and fear about what I was heading into (being a new father) that those harder parts felt to me like they expressed that higher level of anxiety that I was feeling about it – almost panicked, scared. Some of that heavy/dark vibe, I think, also comes from the heavier bands that I’ve loved in my life. I have a very broad range of music that I listen to, but I’ve always loved big, pretty, heavy sounds but over time my musical experience has grown to really love atmosphere, dreaminess along with some of those other big sounds.
IR: Lyrically, what were you trying to communicate, and would you say the song’s themes/message tie into the rest of the tracks on the EP?
TC: I mentioned earlier that lyrically, I was coming from a place of self doubt about having my son, but there is a sci-fi storyline to the EP. So, “Different Now”, while rooted in me dealing with these complex emotions about fatherhood, really in the context of the album, is about humanity’s last baby being before annihilation by the looming supernova and how this soon to be father feels about this birth. The second song is called, “Supernova Dance Party” and essentially is about people that couldn’t leave the soon to be doomed Earth and now they face their fears of death by dancing up until the last minute. Then the song, “Space Seeds” goes on to consider humanity’s place in the universe (“… we are not from here”). “Welcome to the Holotank” is a story about a VR business called the holotank, where you can go and live in the VR universe to forget about yourself (“…forget your body, forget your hair, you’re on another planet, a superhero here”) and what’s happening on the planet. Finally, “52 Moons”, a song that lyrically is in a narrative style – is about humanity’s failed journey to space in an attempt to colonize new planets. So the EP is somewhat of a sci-fi journey with a pretty consistent theme in that regard.
IR: Why did you choose to have “Different Now” as the lead-off track on the EP?
TC: Since the album is a concept that moves in loosely chronological order, I thought that the song about the last human birth on the planet should come first. Knowing that I wanted that piece of the story to lead off the album, I had to make sure that I connected these lyrics to one of the previously recorded tunes that felt like a good introduction to Holographica. It also had to have the right energy to come out of the gate on as the lead for the EP and that’s the one I decided to run with!
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Listen to “Different Now” now in our A Single Sit-Down Playlist!
The Indy Review 