Review: Marina and the Diamonds, The Family Jewels

2010 promised to be a big year for the 24 year old from Wales. She had to settle for second place in the BBC's Sound of 2010 behind Ellie Goulding and was narrowly nudged off the Critic's Choice Brit award by the same artist but the signs were good. Perhaps wisely then her debut album, 'The Family Jewels', was pencilled in for release a week before Goulding's 'Lights' and the world waited to see what was in store.

If I'm honest it's a bit of a mixed bag. The early singles 'I Am Not A Robot', 'Mowgli's Road' and 'Obsessions' hinted at a quiet indie coolness that could threaten Florence's throne but then 'Hollywood' threw a major pop shaped spanner in the works and that's the major problem. Marina seems like she can't decide whether to be a Florence and the Machine/Bat for Lashesesque indie queen or a Lady Gaga/Madonna style pop princess. The album veers between the aforementioned indie stylings and the pop veneer of songs like 'Shampain' and 'Girls'; all finely crafted but it doesn't really make for a flowing piece of work. As well as this the very self-motivated lyrics ('Don't do love, don't do friends, I'm only after success', 'They say I am a control freak, driven a greed to succeed' etc), don't create an instantly likeable character, as lovely as she may be away from the music.

However, the strength of the songs individually means that the album still merits a positive review. Album opener 'Are You Satisfied' is one of the rare moments where indie cool is in perfect harmony with the pop and the final trio of songs, 'Rootless','Numb' and 'Guilty' create a very strong finale. Debut albums often suffer from an eclecticism as artists struggle to experiment and define themselves so I think it would be fair to wait for the sophomore album before any real criticism can be given to her.

7/10

Review: Joshua Radin, I'd Rather Be With You

Joshua Radin is another of these singer songwriters in the vein of Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz et al and 'I'd Rather Be With You' is the second single to be released from his sophomore album 'Simple Times'. If I'm completely honest it does sound a little bit formulaic; start off with a single acoustic guitar and a soft voice, bring in the drums and a second guitar to give it a fuller, bouncier sound and ride out to the end. However, even if you think you've heard it all before, when it's done this well it doesn't really matter. Given the strength of this and previous single 'One of Those Days' I have high hopes for the album.

'I'd Rather Be With You' is released on March 22nd with the album released on April 12th. You can watch the video below, which features Heroes star Hayden Panettiere.

Review: Owen Pallett, Lewis Takes His Shirt Off

Owen Pallett's latest release is a very mixed bag, stylistically at least. The intro is threatening to take us in to sonic territory before a whirl of strings and a gentle drum beat combine to create a driving rhythm over the gently bubbling electronic. Add to this Pallett's soft vocals and we are left with an absorbing starter to the main course towards the end of the song. A subtle change in drum beat and a slow re-introduction of strings, along with Pallett's increasingly strong vocal refrain, create a suitably 'epic' finale to a song that will only serve to enhance Pallett's already rapidly increasing reputation.

Review: Editors, You Don't Know Love

After the storming 'Papillon' Editors return bringing with them a track which, in my opinion, was the highlight of current album 'In This Light and On This Evening. 'You Don't Know Love' is the album's dark, brooding ballad and, despite having over a minute cut for the radio version it still retains its core elements. a steady build up, complete with ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’, before bringing Tom’s increasingly emotive vocals over a rare example of their signature guitar riffs.

Added to this is the extremely surreal video to accompany the song, directed by the same people responsible for the 'Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors'. It features a suited man performing acrobatics, dancing and fighting a woman and her hair. It makes a lot more sense if you watch the video below. Then again, it still doesn't make much sense anyway!