Monday is a big day for Welsh songstress Marina Diamandis. Her second album ‘Electra Heart’ is set to be released in the UK, with many more countries to follow in May. Many artists will agree that the second album is the most frightful to release, especially when the debut has been a huge success. It’s predecessor ‘The Family Jewels’ was certified gold in the UK and Ireland and released globally.
The singer teased work on the new album, back in november 2011 during a concert and revealed the album would very much be a concept telling the story of a cold, ruthless character who wasn’t vulnerable. Adding to that the singer said: ”It’s my take on female personality that include the Primadonna, Sue-Barbie-A, the Teen Idle and the Homewrecker. It’s a bit cringe, but I wanted it to be a way of personifying love and heartbreak. The whole campaign is pink and fluffy, it’s about love. I can never just make up a story, it has to be something that’s happened in my life”.
The album consists out of 12 songs all co-written by the singer herself. It has to be said that the writing skills of this lady are exceptional and her tone of voice is quite unusual for pop singers from the past few years. While there are some fantastic tracks on the album, there isn’t any consistency within the tracks, making it hard to be able to follow the story the singer wants to tell us. The opener ‘Bubblegum Bitch’ is a catchy rock pop song with funny lyrics (Sodapop pop here I come straight to number 1) sets a great tone for the rest of the album, but current single ‘Primadonna‘ who follows straight away, seems to be somehow misfitted. While the new single is a great tune, we believe there are other track which could have been a much better option as the lead for the new album. Take ‘Lies‘, the first ballad on the album which was produced by Diplo and has dubstep parts in it, or fan favourite ‘Homewrecker‘ which reminds us why we fell in love with Marina in the first place.
But not all is bad there are some true beauties on the album. Marina loves to experiment in music and that’s great. ”The State of Dreaming” is a great example. Introduced as an orchestral piece of music, the track transforms into a midtempo dancetrack, which is accompanied by violins. Her voice really stands out when she’s involved in bigger productions. The final song on the album ”Fear and Loathing” is worth a mention too. The intro suggests a hint to Madonna’s ”Like A Prayer” but takes a turnaround when Marina starts to sing, leading to a Enya-inspired ballad, which gets pumped up by a few electro-elements. Breathtaking.
There are a few tracks on the album, which you could describe as album fillers. although some of them lack that punch that’s needed to be put in the spotlight, especially those who succeed the big tracks like Homewrecker and The State of Dreaming. It’s a shame in that sense that promotional single ‘Radioactive’ was not included on the standard edition, as it would have been of a benefit for the album.For those who are waiting for the Deluxe edition, there the song will be included.
In all honesty, ”Electra Heart” is not a bad album and consists overall of a good amount of songs. The problem is however the tracklisting where we feel that some songs are taken away their beauty because they are overshadowed. So when you bought the album, add ‘Radioative‘ and start the shuffling.
”Electra Heart” the new album by Marina & The Diamonds is out now in Ireland via Itunes. The album will be available in the UK Monday April 30. A US release is schedule for July 2012.
