Last year, LA-based Marina Allen was a Folk Radio Artist of the Month. She delivered a powerful debut album in the form of Candlepower, which Billy Rough described as ‘an effortlessly crafted, and luxurious, listen. Charming and challenging in equal measures it is a thoroughly beguiling debut and proves Marina Allen to be a very welcome voice we are guaranteed to hear much of in the future.’
We didn’t have too long to wait, as she is set to release her new album, Centrifics, on 16th September via Fire Records. Her new record is described as full of surprising melodies and hooks, contemplative, and constantly startling. You would be selling Allen incredibly short by describing her as a singer-songwriter; she is a far more nuanced performer drawing on a mass of influences, and she’s clearly not afraid to experiment and forge new ground, as she demonstrates on her new single.
That diversity of influences was touched on in a Folk Radio interview, in which she shared, “I have fun cherry-picking influences; that’s kind of how I learned how to sing. Later on, I took a more formal approach, but when I was very young, that’s how I learned how to sing. It was just listening to Judy Garland and pretending that I was her, you know, and singing and kind of embodying her. I mean, as much as you know, an eight-year-old could do that! But, so yeah, I would go through phases, like I went through a big Bonnie Raitt phase and I went through a big Emmylou Harris phase, and yeah, Joni Mitchell, obviously, and I’m a huge Roaches fan. Basically, I just love singers who sing, who really sing, and I felt really connected to that and wanted so badly to have the courage to do that. I’m totally inspired by all these women. Later, I got really into Meredith Monk and more experimental music and Yoko Ono. I’m on a huge Yoko Ono kick right now.”
In contrast to Candlepower, Centrifics is described as being more focused over the looser approach of her debut. It’s more joyful, funny and direct. Lilting melodies contrast with serious messages, while Allen’s extraordinary range and depth of singing showcase her carefully considered nuances.
Those qualities come to the fore on her lead single, Superreality, described as a hazy ballad with balmy jazzy undertones. She shares: “I wrote Superreality in my living room on a broken keyboard. It’s a transparent, stream-of-conscience dialogue about the innocence it takes to start over after upheaval. The song was written in the rare and delicate moment in transformation, between leaving one reality and entering another.”
Listen/pre-order here: https://fire-records.lnk.to/MarinaAllenCentrificsID