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Sat. Dec. 8 JSInk caught Marina Diamandis i- a half-Greek/half-Welsh singer-songwriter-pianist who goes by the stage name Marina & the diamonds – at the Paradise, the kickoff of her first US tour in 2010. She return s to the larger House of Blues Saturday Dec. 8, with her second album, “Electra Heart” out a week prior. Here’s a link to the advance single/video: “How To Be A Heartbreaker,” http://youtu.be/vKNcuTWzTVw. And our take on what we saw and heard; Marina took Britain by storm early in 20120 and notched two US hits, “Hollywood” and “I Am Not a Robot,” from her debut CD, “The Family Jewels.” At the Paradise, she played this exuberant 65-minute set, backed by a four-piece band. She took the stage wearing a black, hooded capelet over a clinging, long black dress. During her first song, “The Outsider,” Marina claimed that status, not reluctantly. “I’m a fucking wild card!,” she sang. Her theme song may well be “Are You Satisfied?,” which came near the end of the set. “Are you satisfied with an average life?” she asked in the song, after introducing it with the new age message about doing what you love as long as you don’t hurt anybody. And “I Am Not a Robot” was nothing if not peppy reassurance that its OK to be vulnerable and human. (It seems old Gary Numan was wrong!) Marina’s upbeat, neo new wave-ish melodies are based around the piano and synthesizer lines. And, when you glance about the stage, you realize what this set-up does not include – a guitarist. There are two keyboardists, Pete Carr and Jonathan Shone – plus sometimes Marina - and there’s plenty of bounce in this pulsing package. Old wavers might have caught bits of Lene Lovich, Kate Bush and Kim Wilde. Modern rock fans might hear traces of Regina Spektor or Amanda Palmer. There was a tremulous, sometimes operatic, quality to Marina’s voice as she employed various vocal tics and affectations. She did flirt with the dark side. She played the somber “Numb” alone on piano, riffing on numbness and striving to escape it. In the catchy, buzzing “Hollywood,” Marina mixed verses about coveting a cinematic dream life and realizing its corrupting potential. “I’m obsessed with the mess that’s America!” she sang, snaring the pumped-up crowd, not unlike what the Clash used to do when playing “I’m So Bored With the USA.” Joining Marina at the HoB will be Swedish electropoppers Icona Pop. The new album received international applause upon its release earlier this year. BBC Music praised its balance of “the ironic and the heartfelt, the quirky and the mainstream, the real and the fake with remarkable aplomb.” Hey, you gotta like aplomb. Tix: $25 day of/$22/50 advance. Doors at 8. Opener TBA. 967 Commonwealth Ave., 617-562-8000 www.thedise.com |
