In a year awash with female singer-songwriters, it's difficult to tell the good from the bad. I'm sorry, but Duffy and Adele sound too similar to me to tantalise my ears much, and I'm still making my mind up about Lady Gaga (she has a couple of good tracks but I can't help but feel angry whenever I listen to her for too long), there's just so many of them about these days that it's hard to find something truly refreshing. Of course Florence and Emmy both do a great job at just that, but I've now found a cross between the two, and she goes under the pseudonym Marina and the Diamonds.
Marina and the Diamonds
Ok, so she's not exactly unique, but she manages to combine the quirky lyrical talent of Emmy the Great whilst still having a voice so powerful it could almost rival Florence's, not an easy thing to accomplish. She's still operating very much under the radar, with only one E.P. to her name, but has managed to bag herself a place on the NME Radar Tour alongside Golden Silvers and Local Natives.
If you're going to Reading then try and catch her playing Little John's Farm, she'll be definitely worth a watch.
I love Florence, it's no secret that she has an amazing voice and writes songs catchier than swine flu at an old folks' home, and her new single is no exception. This track is one of the more melodramatic stompers on her album, taking the jilted drumbeat and using it to create something almost tribal. However, it does seem that there's no real chorus here, or at least not one that stands out amazingly, but since when do songs need a chorus to be great? Bohemian Rhapsody went down quite well so I hear, and that was obviously a collection of about 4 different songs meshed together, with not much of a refrain in sight.
Florence and the Machine's new single, Drumming Song, is available to buy from 7th September. Her album Lungs is out now- well worth the pennies in your pocket!
Marina and the Diamonds
