heartspace: FEEL MORE
“If you had a heartspace it would be red and pink,” says musician and photographer Madelyn Archer. Her musical project adapts the name heartspace from its obverse, headspace. “I act more off my feelings than my thoughts," she says. To Madelyn, heartspace has become a persona, or rather - her persona now has some identifiable branding: monochromatic reds and pinks associated with both daily Mads and her stage presence. She first dyed her hair pink in 2016 and the signature look grew from there.
“I think a big part of what makes a musician successful is branding,” says Madelyn. “I started saying that I’ve ‘Pavloved’ people; they’d be like, I saw red and pink and I thought of you. Photography also helps with the branding side…I very much have a vision and know exactly how I want to execute it,” she says.
After establishing heartspace in 2020, the next year Madelyn went on tour with Lisa Heller. She opened as heartspace and shot the rest of the show as the tour’s primary photographer. “That’s a good way to package myself to touring artists,” says Madelyn - “I can get on the stage before you, perform, then get off the stage and shoot your whole set.”
Although the immediate success of heartspace as a touring opener studs the project’s first couple years, Madelyn admits that it has been on the backburner after those energetic early days. “I was going to move to LA at the beginning of this year [2023]. Honestly, then I met Sergio, and was like - I’m not moving.” Sergio is Madelyn’s cutie boyfriend, a photographer himself, and often the man behind the shutter of Mads’ images.
Madelyn recognizes that a move to LA would have come with its challenges and that staying in Tulsa was probably the right choice for now. Heartspace has been without a consistent producing partner for a while, but soon the project will be supported by Tulsa producer, Logan Bruhn. With the goal of a cohesive body of work, the injection of Logan’s skills into the project will allow Mads to focus on her strength of songwriting.
“I do better writing when I have a track to write to,” says Mads. But the vision for her next body of work is clear: “I want to focus on my childhood and the memories from growing up; the house that I was raised in…I find myself getting very attached to inanimate objects. A few months ago, I drove by that house, and the tree that was in the front yard, that my uncle had raised from an acorn, was gone. I didn’t know they had cut it down and I lost it. You lose access to these places…then the only way you can access them is through your memories.”
Its not easy to miss that Madelyn prefers to be raw and open with her art and expression- “I have a lot of emotions and am very vulnerable with them…I don’t think that anybody should feel ashamed for being human. I’m vulnerable in my music and in my presence online so that I can make a safe space for other people to feel that they can do the same,” says Madelyn.
Her presence aims to facilitate permission and comfort: “You know when you are sad and listen to a sad song - it's cathartic; or you listen to a song and it immediately gives you chills? I hope that my music can reach [people] in that way…I hate when people feel alone. I don’t want anyone to ever feel that: be ashamed to have emotions, and be sensitive…The world will try to make us pessimists. It will try to callous us, make us hard, and strip away our feelings. To be able to face the world and all of the horrible things that might be going on and still choose to love, stay soft, and feel, is such a superpower. You should never feel small because of that, because it is such a gift you can give yourself, to the world, and everyone around you”.
Though many of us may share this vision in theory and personal practice, Madelyn is also looking for people who want to make indie music within this philosophy - she needs band members and participatory support for the project. If you vibe with Madelyn and heartspace, let her know - she’d love it 💗.
In case you were wondering:
☀️sagittarius, 🔼cancer, 🌒leo