Marina and The Diamonds
The Family Jewels

THE REVIEW

The name might be misleading: Marina and the Diamonds is not a band.
She is a girl born in Wales and “The Family Jewels” is her debut album. A CD with a capital C, composed of thirteen tracks, none of which are out of place, anonymous, or simply bad. I discovered Marina by watching her perhaps most commercial video on YouTube: “Shampain”. Not bad. Then, as usual, I browsed through her channel and realized that “Shampain” is actually her latest single, the fifth one. I became Marina-dependent after listening to “Satisfied” the first track of the CD.

If you have read my previous articles, you will be aware of my boundless disappointment regarding the non-innovations that are fed to us by record companies (the usual "more of the same" in short). Someone seems to have listened to me after all: “Family Jewels” is my Noah’s Ark. I know it's a drop in the ocean, but I am thrilled.

The album is not easy listening: quite a few of my friends turned up their noses after a couple of songs. Yes, the impact is, how to say, strange, it is difficult to find something similar around. “Family Jewels” is like sushi: you either love it or hate it. Marina’s voice is the crowning jewel (...) of the entire work, managing to deliver clear highs but above all, powerful low notes. The comparison to Björk is fitting if it helps you get an idea, but it's not entirely accurate. In my opinion, the sound impact of the record has an indescribably bucolic, fresh quality imbued with a slight madness without, however, distorting the pop norm too much, if it can be defined as such. The beauty is that it’s a new pop.

Obviously, all this has had some success, but not as much as it should have. Obviously. For example, “Mowgli's Road” samples, at the beginning of the song, the noise and sound of a mechanical monkey, and the whole rhythm and melody of the song take on an almost marching feel. I know it’s difficult to understand just by reading a mere explanation, but it's not easy to do more. What I can say is that finally, there's something that needs to be listened to, even if you're not fond of the genre.