Dork
  • Music News
    • Latest News
    • Album Release Schedule
  • Features
    • Features & Interviews
    • Artist Guides
    • In Photos
  • New Music
    • Hype
    • Hype News
    • Hype Features & Interviews
    • Hype Reviews
  • Reviews
    • Album & EP Reviews
    • Live Reviews
  • Radio
    • Home
    • Shows
      • Down With Boring
    • Playlist
    • Listen Again
    • Podcast
      • Apple Podcasts
      • Spotify
      • Google Podcasts
      • Stitcher
      • aCast
      • TuneIn
  • Dork Presents
  • Magazine
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Print Subscriptions
    • Print + Digital Subscriptions
  • Shop
  • Supporters
    • Support Dork
    • Supporter Only Content
    • Digital Library
HTML5 RADIO PLAYER PLUGIN WITH REAL VISUALIZER powered by Sodah Webdesign Dexheim
Dork
  • Music News
    • Latest News
    • Album Release Schedule
  • Features
    • Features & Interviews
    • Artist Guides
    • In Photos
  • New Music
    • Hype
    • Hype News
    • Hype Features & Interviews
    • Hype Reviews
  • Reviews
    • Album & EP Reviews
    • Live Reviews
  • Radio
    • Home
    • Shows
      • Down With Boring
    • Playlist
    • Listen Again
    • Podcast
      • Apple Podcasts
      • Spotify
      • Google Podcasts
      • Stitcher
      • aCast
      • TuneIn
  • Dork Presents
  • Magazine
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Print Subscriptions
    • Print + Digital Subscriptions
  • Shop
  • Supporters
    • Support Dork
    • Supporter Only Content
    • Digital Library
  • Album & EP Reviews

Marina – Love + Fear

  • Dork
  • April 25, 2019
Label: Atlantic Records
Released: 26th April 2019
Rating: ★★★★

We – collectively, as a planet – don’t deserve Marina. Or if we do, we certainly do not appreciate her enough. Three albums of interesting, personality-focused pop music that always had Big Ideas behind them should, in any right-thinking universe, have made her a household name. While she’s hardly a shrinking flower in the ‘profile’ stakes, it’s still far from enough.

But not this time. This time, she means business. Shedding her ‘and the Diamonds’ postfix, Marina is blossoming into the perfect present-day pop icon. Personas and protective shields cast aside, ‘Love + Fear’ is one of the best in the game at her most open and honest.

A two-part album – ‘Love’ and, quite obviously ‘Fear’ – there’s a crystal clarity to Marina two-or-three-or-possibly- four-point-oh. While the obvious path would lead to a juxtaposition of light and shade, Marina is smarter than that. Yes, the second half does deal with more weighty emotion, but musically it never descends into the murky darkness, every difficult moment of introspection refusing to dwell. ‘No More Suckers’ is more of a fightback bop than a defeated lament, while ‘Soft To Be Strong’ revels in Marina’s sharp as glass falsetto. Even in its slowest moments, there’s a swell of defiance.

‘Love’, on the other hand, is where the big moments dwell. Packing most of the pre-release offerings, as well as recent Clean Bandit team-up ‘Baby’, it’s an assertively sugar-sweet collection. ‘True’ shimmers with possibility, while ‘To Be Human’ might glance at some of the more difficult aspects of modern life, but finds unity in confusion.

If anything, ‘Love + Fear’ feels like a clean slate for Marina. She’s not cast aside the things that made her great, but rather refused to compromise her vision any longer. As one of the most intriguing creative pop forces of the past decade, it’s a smart move. There’s lots to love and little to fear here.

Stephen Ackroyd

You May Also Like
View Post
  • Music News

Rita Ora has dropped her new single, ‘You Only Love Me’

  • January 27, 2023
View Post
  • Music News

Sabrina Carpenter has announced a 2023 UK/EU tour

  • January 30, 2023
View Post
  • Music News

Taylor Swift has shared a video for ‘Lavender Haze’ – watch

  • January 27, 2023
Latest issue
Latest
    • Music News
    Lewis Capaldi is going to perform at the 2023 BRIT Awards
    • Music News
    Jamie T has added IDLES, Biig Piig and more to his huge London Finsbury Park show
    • Music News
    Olivia Dean has just dropped a new single, ‘UFO’
    • Music News
    Parklife has signed up The 1975, Aitch and more
    • Music News
    Esben & The Witch are back with their sixth album, ‘Hold Sacred’

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get pop nonsense to your inbox.

Dork
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Privacy
© 2016-2021 The Bunker Publishing Ltd

Input your search keywords and press Enter.