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.
Just managed to stumble across what may potentially be one of my new favourite bands so far this year.
Sound familiar?
They strike me as some kind of Fleet Foxes/Vampire Weekend hybrid of sorts, mixing the warm folky feel of the former with the slick orchestration of the latter. I am astounded that these guys haven't blown up over here yet, my musical spideysense tells me that won't be the case for very much longer.
Marina and the Diamonds
