Cleanse your palate

Marina Diamandis is releasing her sophomore album Electra Heart and is preceding it with the usual teasing of ALBUM COVER and TRACKLIST. Above is one of those things, below is another:

1. "Bubblegum Bitch"
2. "Primadonna"
3. "Lies"
4. "Homewrecker"
5. "Starring Role"
6. "The State of Dreaming"
7. "Power and Control"
8. "Living Dead"
9. "Teen Idle"
10. "Valley of the Dolls"
11. "Hypocrates"
12. "Fear & Loathing"

Conspicuous by its absence is her first single from the campaign "Radioactive" which was brilliant, not as generic as people would have you believe, and bizarrely, despite sounding current and euphoric and unique, completely flopped.

Elsewhere the track names hint that she might be a little bit obsessed with Hollywood and stuff, you know, but only a little obsession, it clearly isn't OWNING the project or anything, is it? Very subtle.

Recently a new track, "Homewrecker", hit the internet. You can listen below. It's nice enough, but her voice (and bear in mind that we actually have a thing for unusual voices, being as we are, fans of Björk, Antony Hegarty and Joanna Newsom) is starting to grate. Literally grate. Like a grater grating us. It's harsh and overwrought (also bear in mind that we LOVE overwrought, but this sounds cold, not overwrought with passion, but overwrought for the sake of it - and if everything is always overwrought, with no light to the shade, there's no joy in it, it's just annoying).

Marina always struck us as someone we might like more and more as time went on, but so far, nothing from this era except for the now exiled "Radioactive" has caught our imagination and the oppressive, synthetic, persistent four to the flour oom-pah synths aren't helping.