Last week I took a bus trip to Georgia. Not only did I have my sister for company but I brought along Marina and her new album Love & Fear. When picking music for a trip it has to be light and fun. In my gay opinion, Love & Fear is the perfect road trip album and “Orange Trees” is my song of summer even though summer’s more than a month away.
Love & Fear is split, the first eight songs are love and the second eight are fear. Both sides have the unique Marina sound. Marina is an electro euro pop princess, highlighted best on “Superstar”, with her full range of vocals and addictive beat. Love & Fear is Marina’s personal evolution put to music. “Enjoy Your Life” is self-help introspection put to a shoulder-shaking beat and “True” is all about loving one’s self. Marina also sings about the universal angst of the uncertainty of life (“Life Is Strange”) as well as the love and pain we all go through (“To Be Human”).
Some of the songs feel like older tunes that are themselves evolving. “Emotional Machine” could be a sequel to “I Am Not A Robot” from Marina’s debut album The Family Jewels, “Karma” nods back to Electra Heart and “Handmade Heaven” starts the album sounding like a continuation of Marina’s last album Froot.
After quite a few listens (what else was I going to do on a Peter Pan bus with forty plus ninety year olds for days on end) I found myself drawn to the fear side of the album. I live for the two-faced “You” and my fav is “No More Suckers” with it’s message of drawing light instead of drama and removal of toxic people. Whether you’re Team Love or Team Fear, Marina brings it with this album, as she always does.
