Marina and the Diamonds - Fear and Loathing.

What a beautiful surprise on Monday when Marina posted this video/song. I was a little caught off guard at how slow and melancholy this is, given the hyper-sounding tunes that have been leaking from her (Living Dead, Sex Yeah). In fact, dare I say, both this song and video remind me quite a bit of Choirgirl/Venus-era Tori Amos. That’s a very good thing. I’ve always preferred Marina’s more down-tempo and introspective moments.

Through Marina’s Twitter and Tumblr pages, she has been abstractly documenting the making of her new album. Not documenting in the “today we finally finished track X” sort of way, but more of a documentation of the themes, photos, and other creative inspirations she’s pulling from. I really get the sense that she’s throwing herself into this project, and revels in the whole “suffering artist” archetype. As Gaga would say, Marina is definitely the kind of pop artist who lives “halfway between fantasy and reality.”

There’s a sort of alter-ego/character theme happening on this project called “Electra-heart” which she delves into in this somewhat excruciating interview with Popjustice. With Marina though, I prefer to let her projects and her direct communication through various outlets speak for themselves, and draw my own conclusion as to what she’s up too. She has a unique and special way of communicating with her fans who pay attention. She is one of the few females in the pop industry right now that I consider to be a true “artist” in every sense of the word.