Well, I missed most of it.
Saw Paul Weller at the end. Me and the missus stared at it in silence, and then when it finished... there was still silence... and then we looked at each other and both burst out laughing. I'm not sure whether this was because of his hair, or because we were relieved the other one thought it was sh1t as well :lol: (we kinda like him, but he always looks like he takes hisself so seriously!)
However, you chaps have piqued my interest. This poor Marina girl... never heard of her, but how bad could she be? So I am at this moment on Spotify listening to her ...
Sorry folks, I kinda like her stuff (EDIT: I absolutely LOVE her stuff) Started with I am not a Robot - really enjoyed it (EDIT: but I think it's weak compared to some of the other songs).
.... So I ended up listening to more. I assume this is her first album. Does she write her own sh1t? Does she play instruments? If she does - and this is her first one - she's potentially as good as Kate Bush. I have to admit that I'm one of the people who regard that lady as something of a genius, but I remember when I first saw Wuthering Heights I thought it was utter cack... (still do, actually :lol:).
I can hear a lot of Kate Bush in some of her backing vox - but I expect her folks have got all KBs records. And her range is the same, she's an alto really - so when she goes higher she has to go into her "head-voice" (equivalent of male falsetto). But she's got quite a strong head-voice, and she's not afraid to mix the two - and that's the same effect you got out of KB early on: a strong lower voice, and then a sudden jump to something that sounds like it's a different voice.
I've heard over half the album now - it's actually the first "new" album I've actually wanted to get in years and years...
Still - I do imagine that she might not be very good live at the moment. But if it's on tonight, I'll see if I can remember to watch.
On the accents thing - that was what I going to start talking about until her album distracted me - as a singer myself, you're kind of stuck with what comes out of your gob and what made you want to sing in the first place. With a lot of effort you can steer it, but you've got to figure out what you want to be first. I'm continually having to eradicate weird americanisms that sneak in - and I don't even know I'm doing them.
But this girl is completely different to that - she's consciously going all over the place with it. She's using accents when she wants, she's stretching and bending sounds to suit her purpose and the song/performance. Some of it works, some of it doesn't so well, but overall it's a stunning effort.
EDIT: Heard all of it now - not a single song I wanted to fast forward...
