5/5 stars.
release date: May 25, 2010
So that I can write something decently readable after listening to this album, let me first get out my initial, useless reaction: WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW. HOLY CRAP.
Three songs in and I knew I was going to be giving this album 5 stars. Just three outstanding songs in, I had already decided that The Family Jewels, the first full-length album by Marina & the Diamonds will be in my top three albums of 2010. As of right now, it takes the number one spot. Vocalist and songwriter Marina Diamandis‘ music is a shining example of great female pop. She keeps it fresh, funky, and interesting. Diamandis gives us lucky listeners the flamboyant theatrics of Mika, the wit of (I’m not proud to say this, but…) Lily Allen, and at times, the pure vocals of Imogen Heap. Diamandis knows how to use her voice to create multiple characters for herself that really bring these songs to life. And despite the comparisons, I can’t lay a finger on any ONE musician that she sounds like.
If there are any Europeans reading, I am sure that they are rolling their eyes, picking at their fingernails or yawning at this post, as The Family Jewels was first released in the UK in February. Americans that are just hearing about this album can blame the late US release date.
Nevertheless, one thing is for sure; Lady Gaga could play piano with her feet, hanging from a trapeze swing, naked, on the moon, with fireworks coming out of her ears, and it still wouldn’t impress me half as much as The Family Jewels did. The 24-year-old Welsh musician keeps the listener entertained from track to track with funny anecdotes and intelligent, clever lyrics. In “Hermit the Frog,” Diamandis sings about a past lover who has seemingly broke her heart, “They call him Hermit the Frog, he’s looking for a dog. Did you find your bitch in me?”
favorites:
“Shampain” – If you bother listening to five seconds of this album, make sure it’s five seconds of this high energy, 80′s power pop jam. The Family Jewels makes it clear that Diamandis can conqer a number of genres, but electropop is in right now and she does it better than the 40 carbon copy songs that are circulating on the radio right now.
“Obsessions” – Proof that Diamandis can strip it down, take it to a piano and still kill it.
xx Krystal
best cd out so far this year!
but i love lily allen
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