Marina and the Diamonds returns with her second album, Electra Heart this time throwing away the kooky ‘Kate Bush-ness’ the music scene seems to have worn like a badge of honour recently.
Where Paloma Faith and Florence and the Machine have embraced shrill weirdness, Greek-Welsh Marina has embraced the Kylie side of pop.
With Madonna and Katy Perry’s producers behind the scenes, Marina Diamandis’ voice is more powerful and unique than the aforementioned, taking this electro pop to a whole new level. The album’s concept is about identity and represents four All-American stereotypes; the housewife, the beauty queen, the homewrecker and the idle teen.
Electra Heart opens with ‘Bubblegum Bitch‘, and the title speaks volumes of what to expect on this album, behind the pop exterior fit for a Girls Aloud member are bitter, witty lyrics.
The first single ‘Primadonna’ (below) goes along the same poppy lines, but before old Marina fans get worried, tracks ‘Starring Role’, ‘Teen idle’ and ‘Valley of the Dolls’, are wonderfully melancholic and heart-rendering exposing.
‘Homewrecker’ is a brilliantly camp Pet Shop Boys inspired track, where else ‘State of Dreaming’ and ‘Fear and Loathing’ could easily be Tori Amos or Kate Bush track,s and this is, a great compliment.
To an innocent passer-by this could be dismissed as just another ‘punchy pop princess turned mainstream’ (think Avril Lavigne), but if you break the layers away this has stunning moments that are beautiful in their simplicity. The contrast of bubblegum pop and spine tingly ballads make this is a stand out in a genre full of eccentric females.