“Lying on a fake beach, you’ll never get a tan / Baby I’m gonna leave you drowning, until you reach for my hand,” she croons.
And so begins the second chapter of Electra Heart, the American Dream-turned-Greek tragedy being slowly unwoven by bright red-lipped UK chanteuse Marina + The Diamonds.
After the release of “Fear & Loathing” on August 8 comes “Radioactive,” produced by DJ Chuckie and powerhouse Norwegian production team Stargate–Marina’s most daring lift-off from her usual output, and also one of her finest songs to date.
Boldly charging into mainstream production territory, Miss Diamandis lays her signature chops atop a pulsating, shimmering dance beat that could have just as easily been found layered into Rihanna‘s LOUD or an Alexis Jordan club cut.
Yet this both is and isn’t an immediate radio smash: While the beat is thoroughly Top 40, the songcraft is still very much a Marina production, featuring emotionally charged lyrics (“My heart is nuclear / Love is all that I fear / Ready to be let down, now I’m headed for a meltdown”) and the singer’s signature leaping vocal acrobatics and quivering vibrato. The result? An utterly stellar indie-goes-dance production–the kind of smart pop that helps to continue to redefine the genre.
The accompanying Casper Balslev-directed clip is equally breathtaking: Like a cross between Bonnie & Clyde and The Virgin Suicides, there’s something simultaneously thrilling and spooky in watching Heart’s rebellious adventures through the windy deserts, sleazy motel rooms and desolate supermarkets of heartland America.
Where will it all end for Electra? We’ll find out soon enough when the story’s third installment is uploaded within the next week or two.
“Radioactive” will be released on October 3. (iTunes UK)