Â鶹Éç

Marina And The Diamonds

Marina And The Diamonds

Last updated: 28 October 2009

Avant-garde spiky pop loveliness from a new indie press darling.

She might have the naming conventions of a group, but Marina And The Diamonds is just one woman - a woman dealing in dainty but heavy, light but dark, challenging but accessible pop music.

Having grown up in Abergavenny and spent some time in Greece, Marina Diamandis moved to London at just 18 and proceeded to drop out of four universities and audition for West End musicals. She even ended up in The Lion King.

But that wasn't for her. "I was never massively musical," she says, "but since I was about 15, I've known I had to be a singer." Setting to work on her own material, she composed and produced her first work on a laptop using Garageband.

Those recordings became a demo which came to the attention of the influential Neon Gold label of New York.

Obsessions/Mowgli's Road came out in February 2009, followed by The Crown Jewels EP in June 2009.

Mowgli's Road is to reappear in November 2009 as her first single for 679 Recordings, a subsidiary of the massive Warners label. Her debut album is being recorded with Liam Howe of The Sneaker Pimps.

She told WalesOnline, "I feel like I was meant to do this... I wouldn't have embarrassed myself so many times if I didn't think I had a contribution to make. I think you should go where your instinct takes you in life.

"I've still got family in Brynmawr and Abergavenny and I used to get back about three times a year but it has been more difficult lately."

While it would be very easy to draw a parallel between her work and that of other current female songwriters with a penchant for the leftfield, she's adamant she can stand independent of journalistic shorthand: "When Britpop was at its peak, all the bands were lumped together. But I do my thing; I write songs, I perform and I couldn't give two sh*ts about what X, Y or Z are doing.

"If 15 girls rise to the top this year and they're all super-talented, brilliant. But good music is good music; who cares if you're male or female?"

Key works

  • Mowgli's Road cover

    Mowgli's Road (2009)

  • Obsessions cover

    Obsessions (2009)


Bookmark this page:

Artist search

Browse the Â鶹Éç Wales Music database.

Â鶹Éç Music

Rock guitarist

Rock and indie

All the latest rock and indie highlights from Â鶹Éç Music.

Showcase your Welsh music images on our Flickr group.

Cymru

Gruff Rhys

Cerddoriaeth

A-Z of Welsh language artists with biogs, sessions, reviews and gigs.

Festivals and events

Festival

Guides

Get all the lowdown on some of Wales' key festivals and events.

How to...

Crowd at a gig

Go to the show

Our guide to where to find gigs and concerts in your area.

Â鶹Éç iD

Â鶹Éç navigation

Â鶹Éç © 2014 The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.