Album of the Week: Marina and the Diamonds’ over-the-top Jewels

Marina and the Diamonds: The Family Jewels

I don’t think UK sensation Marina and the Diamonds will achieve the kind of popularity to merit a musical one day, à la ABBA’s Mamma Mia or Queen’s We Will Rock You, but if it happens, The Family Jewels is tailor-made for the stage. Glammy flourishes, vaudevillian piano touches, and then there’s Marina Diamandis’s over-dramatic, high-low voice. It’s no doubt Marina has an excellent pop songwriting touch – it’s why major label Warner snapped her up from indie boutique label Neon Gold – and the Family Jewels is poised for mainstream success somewhere in the range of Florence and Gaga. But it’s the less-Broadway songs, like stripped down “Obsessions” or Enya-ish “Numb,” that impress the most. (For evidence, check out her acoustic rendition of current UK hit “Hollywood” in the video below. Much better.) B+

Marina and the Diamonds: Hollywood (Fenech-Soler Remix) (from RCRD LBL)
from the CD The Family Jewels
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