Album Review: Marina and the Diamonds – Electra Heart
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| Photo: Casper Balslev |
‘Welcome to the life of Electra Heart’ Marina croons in ‘Bubblegum Bitch’, the opening track of her sophomore effort. Sounding like Blondie on speed racing through the first minutes of the album with frantic excitement, it is recognisably Marina but admittedly strays significantly from her plucky piano-pop debut. The eccentric nature that is the essence of Marina And The Diamonds still remains, as does the expertly crafted songwriting skills that come from years of dedication to Britney Spears, but things have moved on from ‘The Family Jewels’. A little too soon for a change in sound, you might argue, but when it is pulled off as effortlessly as the top grade material on ‘Electra Heart’, doubts will soon be quashed.
Not every track is a total departure from Diamandis’ debut, as the gorgeous, piano-led ballad ‘Teen Idle’ and bonus track ‘Buy The Stars’ prove, conjuring similarities to fan-favourite ‘Numb’. Also, fans of Marina’s intelligent lyrics rejoice as the feminist anthems (‘Sex Yeah’) and psychological explorations (‘The State Of Dreaming’) should provide plenty of intellectual pop for you to devour.
Switching between a reflective, personal account in ‘Fear and Loathing’, complete with haunting ambient outro, Marina introduces a few characters onto ‘Electra Heart’ as she becomes the high-maintenance ‘Primadonna’ before taking on the role of a Homewrecker in, erm, ‘Homewrecker’. But there’s plenty of tracks to relate to on top of it all; the ode to a doomed relationship that is ‘Lies’, a sterling Dr.Luke production and the charming third single ‘Starring Role’ a mid-tempo that harks back to the Ryan Tedder productions that made a name for Leona Lewis.
There is plenty of variety on ‘Electra Heart’, but it’s thankfully not at the price of it’s coherence. ‘Power and Control’ and ‘Lonely Hearts Club’ allow Marina’s electronic tendencies to shine at the fore, whilst ‘Hypocrates’ serenades with an uplifting guitar-lead that feels like it was lifted from The Corrs’ back catalogue. Meanwhile, first single ‘Radioactive’ and the chart-bothering follow up ‘Primadonna’ benefit from a generous helping of dance in giving their pop sensibilities an appreciated kick.
With the support that is inevitable, given her sizable fanbase, Marina and the Diamonds should soar to new heights with ‘Electra Heart’. It salvages what was working best from her debut record, throws a great production around it and most importantly, never understates the importance of an undeniable hook. This isn’t generic pop topped with crooning about swag; it has an intellectual quality that most chart-toppers aren’t too fluent in but what Marina plays as her trump card.
Photo: Casper Balslev
Words: Simon McMurdo
3 Replies to “Album Review: Marina and the Diamonds – Electra Heart”
the first time i heard it i didn't like it actually. but after listening to it 2,3 times it just blew me away. it's inevitable to compare her with Lana Del Rey or Florence Welch but Marina's unique in her own way. while Lana does not even try to force her voice to the higher notes most of the times, Marina has a variety of voice ranges that she uses randomly during the album and while Florence almost screams a full album Marina knows how to whispear properly in order to make us believe that she's nothing but an innocent girl 🙂
a funny fact: i don't like her debut album at all, i heard Electra Heart and was expecting to find more of the same on The Family Jewels but it didn't happen unfortunatelly 🙁
Anyway i became i fan of her music and i'm looking forward for her next releases 🙂
BTW: Starring Role is nothing but PERFECT
Ah that's really interesting! I absolutely adore The Family Jewels, possibly a little more than Electra Heart, but they're both such incredible pop albums and yet so different… I guess it's understandable that a few people like one and not the other!
well when i find an artist that looks interesting i listen to the most recent stuff and then the older albuns… i'm one of those who believe that the new material is always better than the old one but these days i'm not so sure about that [it goes for bands like Stream Of Passion or EPICA for example]