Electra Heart

Marina and the Diamonds and her most important diamonds

It is a common thing when solo artists perform under pseudonyms. Marina Lambrini Diamandis, the Welsh singer with Greek descent, has quite an original pseudonym indeed. People, who are not acquainted with her creativity, may suppose that Marina and the Diamonds stands for some band’s name. Once Marina was asked to explain where these very diamonds were. Well, the performer gave an explicit answer: “I am Marina, and you, my listeners, are diamonds”. The career of that distinctive singer began in 2005, when that amazing pseudonym appeared. Diamandis stated that it was rather tricky for her to figure out the very concept and limits of her creativity: it was not a strictly formed group by that time, but at the same time it was not a completely solo project. Nevertheless, everything straightened out, and nowadays Marina seems to be satisfied with the situation. But her very fist work titled Mermaid Vs. Sailor EP of the year 2007 was recorded by Marina only in her house. Seventy copies of the album were sold quite fast, and soon after that the artist was noticed by representatives of serious labels. They signed a contract and by 2010 the singer issued her debut studio attempt titled The Family Jewels, which got the Golden status in Great Britain. Marina’s brand new creation Electra Heart has already got in the top of the UK albums chart that is why it is absolutely logical to assume that Marina and the Diamonds presented an excellent job again.

Electra Heart – concept album

Marina came to the recording process of her new album in a very delicate way. Moreover, the artist had a great idea to create a concept album what would include motives of old American movies, the idea of American dream itself and even elements of Greek tragedy. All in all it is some kind of a remarkably interesting concept with beautiful musical illustrations. The mood is well created by a vivid composition called Bubblegum Bitch, within of which the pushiness of rock and electronica were intertwined. The following song Primadonna is a straight hint about direct transit to electronic sound that would probably fit the dance floors. Marina told about allusion to the cinema for a good reason. Thus, for example, The State of Dreaming reminds of musicals and once again demonstrates the artist’s outstanding vocal skills. Also it is impossible to ignore the way Marina and the Diamonds’s vocal parts are created within every single song. The arrangements, even in spite of the fact that they are fancy, are not bringing any revolutionary ideas. They have a completely other purpose: to give Marina’s voice a vast, and this task is well done. The singer has a powerful and nicely trained voice, and it got its well-deserved role in compositions.

This is just a beginning of a creative path

Even in spite of the fact that Electra Heart is the second studio work in the artist’s discography, it is still only the beginning of Marina and the Diamonds’ creative path. Of course, Marina knows exactly what kind of music she would like to perform, however all her songs are very distant from each other, which is, in fact, not bad and it is actually interesting. Acoustic ballads and vivacious and drive compositions are completely conquered by Diamandis. Take any song from Electra Heart – you will not find a single average (simply filling) track, as soon as everything is performed on the highest level. Meanwhile changes of mood add charm, and they are done in a smooth way, so listeners will not be thrown from endlessly positive songs to minor chords. Still it feels that Marina is in search for her style (for fairness’ sake it must be mentioned that almost all the performers look for style during their careers, and that process is highly fascinating for music lovers). What will Marina and the Diamonds’ next studio work be like? Nobody knows, but Electra Heart is definitely a success. Those people who manage to get the deluxe version of that record will also get four amazing songs that were not included into the standard issue. And this is quite a weighty bonus.