Released through 679/Neon Gold



Marina & The Diamonds fit in nicely with the new fad of female singers with inaccurate band names. Examples, I hear you cry? Florence & The Machine isn’t Florence singing a concept album of RoboCop ballads. Gregory & The Hawk isn’t a guy wearing a gauntlet doing bird displays. Little Boots is still just Little Boots. And thus Marina & The Diamonds, where the Diamonds are in fact us, the fans. Aww. I include you already because you should like her music. If you have any common decency of course. She also likes a bit of blogging, but not in a “Look at me I’m Lily Allen, and THESE ARE MY OPINIONS!” kind of way.

 
The Crown Jewels EP. 3 songs of great promise, immaculately delivered. There’s enough here to leave the current crop of shit pop stars quaking in their (little) boots. Actually, Little Boots had one good chorus on her entire album. Marina has two already. You do the math. If you didn’t drop out of school that is. Opening track 'I Am Not A Robot' begins like a Kate Bush ballad, before breaking into a pop song that builds quite nicely indeed. It could be a subversive way of stating immediately how different she is from aforementioned pop stars out there, and how she won’t follow their asinine ways. Or she could just be saying that she’s not a robot. I’d like to think the former is correct. It’s a really (and I hate to use the word so freely) nice song. It’s lyrically cute, and musically very charming, but not so much that you want to stick your fingers in your throat. Or your ears.

'Seventeen' is a refreshing slice of funky pop, piano and bass driven. It’s instantly toe-tappingly catchy, with Marina’s voice matching the mood nicely, her voice switching from powerful to distressing by the song’s end. It’s also got a great lyric in “She’s got all the personality/ of a lemon that’s been truly sucked dry.” I hope Marina’s not lactose intolerant, as I’m sliding a saucer of milk her way. But it’s a song that is wise beyond its years, and very enjoyable. Final song 'Simplify' is just Marina and a piano with an elegant swooner, which showcases her voice perfectly. Hers is a simple, understated beauty, yet it’s equally impressive how well suited her voice is to the three songs she has on display here. Definitely one to watch out for then.

Posted In Single Reviews, Jun 30 2009. Words - Paul