Marina and the Diamonds - Electra HeartThe thing with Marina is she spends most of her time sounding like someone else. Frequently somewhere between Kate Bush, Pat Benatar and Blondie, it was suggested to me that the single Power and Control is pure Bat for Lashes, which will annoy Marina's contemporary Natasha Khan.

Throw in a bit of Diana Vickers up-and-down vocals, the chunky synthesisers of Little Boots and some most-modern, post-consumerist, post-feminist lyrics and you get an album of cynically knowing story-songs wrapped in glittery bubblegum-pop production.

Electra Heart's title, with its' classical allusion, labels this too-clever-by-half second album with it's art-school pretensions. If you like Marina already, you'll like the intelligent songs with playground lyrics and a decidedly jaded world view.

You also get a lot of album for your money; sixteen tracks, mostly shy of four minutes. If you don't like one, another will be along soon. Read more of this post