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For those who were in the know the first time that Marina & The Diamonds (actually a solo act featuring Welsh-Greek singer Marina Diamandis) appeared on your radar would have been around a year ago when she released the Obsessions/ Mowgli’s Road 7’’. Since then she has gradually gained in popularity culminating in a runners-up placement on the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll as well as very vocal support from pop-music journalists and Kanye West’s blog (which has featured all her old music videos). However, with such hope pinned on The Family Jewels does it live up to the hype of an impressive debut?
The real answer to that lies in her voice, since so much of this album’s appreciation lies in this. It is a factor of her music that has polarised many (much like with Joanna Newsom and Florence Welch) with some reviews actually damning this album on the basis of a dislike of her voice. If you are unable to appreciate this, these will definitely be tracks that grate since she has chosen to use every facet it over the course of the entire album. This ranges from cuckoos and whistles on ‘Mowgli’s Road’, the opening of ‘Hermit the Frog’ and the high notes hit on closer ‘Guilty’.
If you can relish Diamandis’ voice and have an ear for good pop then The Family Jewels is indeed a treasure trove. Then again, die-hard fans they have known this already with most of these tracks having appeared in some capacity on the internet (via her Myspace or on Youtube) over the past year. These tracks have all seen the gloss of production and as a die-hard fan it is great to see that none of her individuality has been removed in the process, with the exception of the animal noises at the end of ‘Mowgli’s Road’ which disappeared, though in retrospect this was probably for the best.
The album opener itself, ‘Are You Satisfied?’, is almost a challenge to her fans and critics as a means to gauge their opinion on her debut and as a song it probably the perfect choice as one to completely describe the ‘Marina & The Diamonds sound’. Like most of her tracks it is an addictive piano-driven driven pop song with an extremely satisfying hook and highly personal and well written lyrics. From here she flits between pop-based genres, well-armed with a sense of irony touching on the commercialism of America (‘Hollywood’), decadence (‘Shampain’) and vanity (‘Girls’).
The ironic upbeat songs are the ones that will be circulating in your head for weeks to come, but the songs that truly market her as an artist are those in which she decides to take it down a notch, use simpler production methods and give us an insight in the Marina beneath the bright lipstick and shoulder-pads. ‘I Am Not A Robot’ acts as a self-assured battle cry to anyone who ever become overwhelmed and allowing yourself to admit that you have limits, a song that has a optimistic ending that often leads to Goosebumps. Then there is ‘Obsessions’, concerning a failing relationship where she truly lays her heart on the line and makes herself completely vulnerable as she muses on her love affair’s frailty.
The main conclusion to be reached from The Family Jewels is that Marina Diamandis knows how to make truly evocative music and is not afraid to reach deep within her soul if that is what she needs to do and yet can provide songs with enough bite and resolution to keep us transfixed. This is a truly glittering debut from a girl who definitely knows how to make great pop.
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