Hidden away in a studio in Angel, North London, Marina Diamandis – yes, apparently that is her real surname – has been tinkering away on her debut album for the last year and a half. Most new artists are eager to get their first material down and out, so why the delay?
“I’m a perfectionist and super-anal,” explains the Welsh-born vocalist. “I need everything exactly how I want it, which drives me crazy but hopefully it’ll be worth it in the end. Liam [Howe, producer, formerly of Sneaker Pimps] doesn’t mind, he’s used to it now. I feel comfortable pulling things up with him.”
Marina’s quirky piano-led sound topped with distinctive swooping vocals has garnered comparisons to Kate Bush, Regina Spektor and Kate Nash, but don’t get her onto the subject of female artists being measured against each other. “I think just because we’re female doesn’t mean we’re all the same,” she reasons patiently, obviously bored of having to drive this point home. “I’m sure my fans will let me know how I differentiate from those people and how they differentiate from me, so I’m just staying out of that whole thing cos I think it’s really pointless.”
Marina and the Diamonds – Mowgli’s Road
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Marina admits to being “obsessed” by Brody Dalle and Emily Haines, frontwomen who take no prisoners with regard to their artistic vision. Enquiries into her other inspirations elicits the stock response “relationships”, but not necessarily good ones.
“The only ‘love songs’ on the album are hatred ones,” she spits. “‘Obsessions’ could count as a love-related song, and there’s one called ‘Jealousy’, but most of it is about dealing with your own things and being a self-obsessed twat! I think the record’s mainly about trying to change yourself as a person. Two years ago I was really different and anti-social and weird, so I had to change quite a lot.”
The LP is currently called ‘The Family Jewels’ – see what she did there? – and is set for release in January 2010, perfectly timed for Marina to be touted as a ‘One To Watch’ on all the tipsters’ lists.
With two songs left to lay down, the end to a very long road is finally in sight. All the material that fans may be familiar with – ‘Obsessions’, ‘I Am Not A Robot’, ‘Mowgli’s Road’ – will be present, along with a few curveballs.
“I’ve got three massive pop numbers,” muses Marina, “and I’ve always been really nervous of them because I wrote them about a year ago and they’re so different to my other stuff, but I can’t help it, I’m quite a versatile writer. But I just don’t know how to link stuff like ‘Robots’ and these pop numbers, I guess we’ll have to find out how to do that. I think it’s good to have diversity, or else you’re going to remain in the same box. You have to grow.”
Come January, this little gem could be a sizeable figure indeed.
Words by Laura Foster
Photo by Helen F Kennedy
