Marina Diamandis is a work in progress that might never be finished.
A case in point is her reluctance to discuss her third album. Although she has announced that she is working on her sequel to Electra Heart, it will go in whatever direction she decides to take, and she remains open to detours. A lot of it is instinct.
“I have to be honest,” Diamandis exclaims. “I really hate talking about album three! I have no desire to talk about it because I really have no idea what its final form will be.”
It might be a refinement of Electra Heart. When she first emerged, Diamandis listed a hugely varied number of influences, from Tom Waits to Britney Spears. The album, though, is a shiny beast with an ’80s pop base and an electro/Euro pop sheen. If those varied influences aren’t obviously on show, they can be discerned. Their thinking became her thinking, as in, “What would Tom Waits do here?”
“I don’t think influences are that important for me.” Diamandis said.
“The more I have become a musician, the smaller my appetite for music has become. I don’t go to many gigs or listen to a lot of music — and I never really did much before, either.
“But I know what I like and get obsessed by someone immediately if their music hits a chord with me.
“I am not sure if I’ll ever have a concrete sound. I think people identify with my lyrics/voice more than the production or genre I’ve fallen into.”
What sound she has developed comes from appearing night after night with a band.
“I had one band for the first album and then an entirely different one for the second, bar the drummer,” she notes. “The addition of guitars added a really good dynamic for me.
“Touring forces you to understand your instrument inside out. I suffered a lot of problems last year with a vocal injury. It’s been a slow process getting my voice up to its normal strength, so I was subconsciously using my voice in a different way for a long while. More restrained and softer.”
An attitude toward her relationship with pop music is developing and so is open to change as she understands it more. In her videos she seems to be laughing at the nonsense of making them while acknowledging their necessity.
“I deeply wanted to be a pop star, but I’ve still come out of the album campaign as an alternative/underground pop artist. The acknowledgement of this has helped me move on. I was like, ‘You can’t escape being alternative, Marina. That is what your brain is built, so just accept it.’
“The way you think is skewed/strange!” she continues. “You may as well accept what your talent is and support it, rather than quashing it or dumbing it down to make yourself more likable for radio.
“It’s why I built Electra Heart and the elaborate concept behind it. It was my way of justifying taking that commercial path, when really I had been signed as a lo-fi sounding songwriter.”
Marina Diamandis grew up in Wales. Her Diamonds aren’t her band but a loving reference to her growing following — her fans are her Diamonds — as well as an allusion to her Greek heritage. Since she is a child of the ’80s, it’s no wonder Electra Heart evokes ’80s pop a la Eurythmics.
“My Mum used to play a lot of Eurythmics,” Diamandis admits. “Sadly, it is inevitable!”
With that musical base and not a lot of technique, Electra Heart took shape.
“What’s funny with Electra Heart is that, apart from the music, much of it has become DIY (Do It Yourself): the image,the clothing, the videos.
“I have three more video parts I will put out. I’ve bankrupted my label (apparently) so we have no money but we’re gonna do it and finish this era the way I want to. Where there’s a will ,there’s a way!”
http://www.theprovince.com/entertain...#ixzz2SRMtOqAu
I distinctly remember arguing with Marina stans who were pretty much defending her honour saying she DID not sell out and it was meant to be an artistic statement. Oh well, we all can have our own opinions and Marina has not improved her position within the music industry so...........
