MARINA - LOVE + FEAR (Acoustic) EP [Review]

Marina Diamandis (who previously went by the stage name Marina and the Diamonds and now simply goes by MARINA) released her fourth studio album LOVE + FEAR, a double album featuring eight songs that encompass love as an emotion and eight songs that encompass fear as an emotion, earlier this year. (I reviewed the album as two separate albums here and here.) More than a week ago, she released a companion EP to it which includes five acoustic interpretations of songs from the album - "True," "Superstar," "Karma," "No More Suckers," and "Orange Trees." It is worth noting that the cover of the EP is likely meant to symbolize the songs featured respectively. This especially makes sense given that blue has pretty much always been associated with "Superstar," and orange would be the obvious choice for "Orange Trees," and Marina is no stranger to associating songs with colors because she did almost the same thing with her Froot of the Month campaign several years ago. I am overall pretty happy with the songs that were chosen because three of them ("Superstar," "Karma," and "Orange Trees") are singles so are therefore obvious choices, although I would have loved to have heard "Believe in Love" acoustic and would have taken that over "True," especially as an opening track. I don't know how I feel about the EP opening with this rendition of "True" because (a) it isn't really one of my favorite LOVE + FEAR tracks (and she didn't even do it live when I saw her in concert recently) and (b) it kind of seems to abruptly and jarringly begin on Marina's vocals with no introduction (which is a way that it differs from the album version as the album version does begin with an instrumental introduction). Marina sings the song (which, on the album, is a very upbeat and poppy song) in a softer and more delicate tone, making the song a bit more emotional and vulnerable. The EP then gives us an acoustic version of "Superstar." The opening of the song is louder and much more pronounced and sounds like it might be played on an acoustic guitar with a high and tinny register (I am not sure precisely what kind of guitar that it is). The song prominently features piano and the aforementioned string instrument being gently plucked, with Marina's porcelain and fragile vocals not sounding too different from the album version. I prefer the album version as this one simply doesn't have the same power behind it, but it's also nice to hear Marina sing about emotional vulnerability in a more emotionally vulnerable way.

We then get "Karma," which, given its ambient introduction added to the beginning of the song (which is not heard on the album version), probably would have worked better as the EP's first track. I actually prefer this acoustic version of the song to the album version. I hear what sounds like a xylophone and, once again, the gently strumming guitar, and I just think that this version is a lot rawer but also more theatrical than the album version. I also like the aforementioned introduction that was added to the song as well as the similar outro. "No More Suckers" is one of the more surprising choices on the EP because it is one of the most playful and upbeat songs on LOVE + FEAR; it is therefore the song that probably deviates the most from its album version counterpart. Marina even sings the chorus in a much lower register than she does on the album version. It sounds like the xylophone from "Karma" might have been carried over here, and I also hear what sounds like maracas and/or tambourines being used for percussion. Although I prefer the more playful nature of the album version as well as the chorus being sung in a higher register on the album version, I definitely find this version to be an interesting and pleasurable take on it. The EP closes with an acoustic version of "Orange Trees," and I have to admit that I don't really like the decision to close on this song because the song's tone and structure don't really make it sound like a closing number, but I also can't be too critical of that because this is just an acoustic EP, not an album, and the order of the tracklisting therefore doesn't matter as much. There are aspects of this version of the song that I prefer to the album version; for example, the heavy snapping beat is gone, and I think that the song sounds better without it. However, also gone is the Caribbean and tropical sound from the chorus, which is my favorite aspect of the album version. This EP was overall a great treat for diamonds, but I do vehemently wish, as I said, that it had featured "Believe in Love." She also did a piano rendition of "I'm Not Hungry Anymore" on the LOVE + FEAR tour, so even though that is actually a FROOT song (although it unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor), a studio recording of that would have been a nice addition, especially since it is one of my favorite MARINA songs of all time, and the aforementioned acoustic rendition of it that she did on tour is so incredibly beautiful.