It’s an outrageous album; preposterous, attitude-laden, camp, romantic, strident, gorgeous, gutsy, opulent, girl-powered, arch, hammy, ridiculously tuneful, vocally slipping between operatic soprano and belligerent sass-mouth, every song a killer.
She has clearly rediscovered her muse, resulting in this outrageously enjoyable album.
There are few stars like MARINA who find the balance between being unfiltered in their politics while also creating top-tier, intricate pop music.
For eleven years, Diamandis has allowed her muse to guide her wherever it may lead. Having closed any sort of divide between the two sides of her creative mind with Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land, she is currently acting with a new level of control and confidence over her songcraft.
Marina re-embraces her inner strength and quite possibly creates her magnum opus with Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land.
Ancient Dreams is a quick dose of what makes Marina great: heartfelt honesty from a fellow misfit consistently pushing the boundaries of pop.
The first half of the album is intoxicating—it is danceable and full of fun energy. The second half of the album is all heartbreak and slow piano-filled ballads carried by Marina’s whimsical and hollowing vocals.
The result reads more like a follow-up to the personal Froot (2015) than it does the collaborative Love + Fear, and finds MARINA emboldening her trademark theatrical glam with sharper edges.
A 10-track wonder that is a more mature and eclectic take on her gloriously femme and thundering electro-pop.
The unmistakably dramatic pop singer seeks the divine feminine, embracing a bold yet soft aesthetic that’s more effective than some of her lyrics.
While Ancient Dreams succeeds musically, uneven and sometimes heavy-handed lyrics drag the effort down.
If there’s anything the album lacks ... it’s some of the knowing playfulness of her previous work. It seems to be missing a slight spark that made Marina such a fun breath of fresh pop air. Maybe that’s the point though. These aren’t fun times, and Marina is here to deliver harsh truths.
The difference between her new material and the ‘Electra Heart’ and ‘The Family Jewels’ albums it sonically references is that ‘Ancient Dreams’ takes itself too seriously.
Anti-misogyny manifesto pop could easily become clumsy and overwrought, but the joy Marina invests into her mannered, quasi-operatic delivery makes sedition sound seductive.
It's admirable that Marina tackles a number of weighty subject matters on Ancient Dreams; unfortunately, there's often not enough follow-through on the musical end.
Ancient Dreams In a Modern Land is not only a return to form for Marina, but on top of that it has surprised itself positively on several occasions. If we don't necessarily find the prowess of the beginnings, on the other hand we quickly forget Love+Fear.
We feel the Welsh singer-songwriter Marina reinvigorated, as some important things that were cruelly missing on her previous and disappointing album Love + Fear. First of all, this hint of madness, as well as this contagious energy as ... read more
Some of her best songs are in the first half of this album, but it does drag on after that.
When I heard the first four songs of this album, I was in heaven and thought we were in for an entire pop rock Marina album, at which point I was ready to dish out a 10, then the second part hit, and I was a bit disappointed. Though no song on there is bad, I just think the first four showed a style she could be so good in, that the letdown of it being dropped in favour of slower ballads leads me to be perhaps quite biased against it. Venus Fly Trap is a top 3 Marina song without a doubt, and ... read more
1 | Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land 3:26 | 87 |
2 | Venus Fly Trap 2:38 | 86 |
3 | Man's World 3:27 | 82 |
4 | Purge The Poison 3:16 | 83 |
5 | Highly Emotional People 3:34 | 76 |
6 | New America 3:52 | 76 |
7 | Pandora's Box 3:32 | 73 |
8 | I Love You But I Love Me More 3:43 | 79 |
9 | Flowers 3:54 | 74 |
10 | Goodbye 4:42 | 76 |
#28 | / | Albumism |
#50 | / | Slant Magazine |
#107 | / | RIFF |