Marnie lyrics

These are the lyrics of all songs from Helen Marnie' solo career. For Ladytron lyrics go here.

Crystal World
The Hunter
We Are the Sea
Hearts on Fire
Violet Affair
The Wind Breezes On
Sugarland
High Road
Laura
Submariner
Gold

Strange Words and Weird Wars
Alphabet Block
Bloom
G.I.R.L.S
Electric Youth
A Girl Walks Alone at Night
Lost Maps
Summer Boys
Little Knives
Invisible Girl
Heartbreak Kid

Various songs
Wolves
Sweet Dreams (with RM Hubbert)

Crystal World

The Hunter

A heart explodes every second on the street
The weight of the world and it's heaven
They'll always be together
The line is drawn and a circle is born
Stop and stare at your heart, at your heart
Open for all to see, a lifetime, a history

Oh help me please, why look away?
Oh can we stay together?
Oh help me please, why look away?
Oh can we stay together?

'Cause I am the hunter now
And I won't hear your cries
So dry your eyes friend
We'll make a wish then say goodbye
'Cause I am the hunter now
And I won't hear your cries
So dry your eyes friend
We'll make a wish then say goodbye

A heart explodes every second on the street
A sister, a daughter, a lover
Who hopes they're not forgotten
You crossed the line and committed a crime
It was there from the start, from the start
Oceans of empathy, and now this is history

Oh help me please, why look away?
Oh can we stay together?

'Cause I am the hunter now
And I won't hear your cries
So dry your eyes friend
We'll make a wish then say goodbye
'Cause I am the hunter now
And I won't hear your cries
So dry your eyes friend
We'll make a wish then say goodbye.
top

We Are the Sea

Under pentangle star our eyes flicker light from the distance
Life is a sea to me so harvest all you need to make a difference
In the wild we are free, this is all that we're meant to be
Leave all your fear behind, it's a hundred times better
I promise you, I promise you

Believe with full hearts
Origins and new starts
In you there's something magical
Our eyes under the pentangle
Begin again, the distance free
Leave it all behind, we are the sea

I hear that home is calling
Oh Lord, won't you take me back to sea

Nothing can stop us now our eyes glitter pride and joy fever
Life is a sea to me so stand and face the wave that it delivers
In the wild we are free, this is all that we're meant to be
Leave all your fear behind, it's a thousand times better
I promise you, I promise you

Believe with full hearts
Origins and new starts
In you there's something magical
Our eyes under the pentangle
Begin again, the distance free
Leave it all behind, we are the sea

I hear that home is calling
Oh Lord, won't you take me back to sea.
top

Hearts on Fire

I heard you lost your way
Marching to the beat of a serpent
A fire burning your horizon
Beyond the barricade
Fallen but this black heart is fighting
The hand it was dealt by fate

I hear you now and don't let me down
Leave the darkness behind
Cast aside and don't look behind, only silence
Promises will be all we need through the dark days
Lying softly to ourselves

Always never felt so good
We're the power
Our hearts on fire, hearts on fire
Promises we always made when our hearts on fire.
Always never felt so good
We're the power
Our hearts on fire, hearts on fire
Promises we always made when our hearts on fire.

They looked the other way
And now you don't even recognize them
Bound by a code of silence
So keep your enemies at bay
Marching to the beat of a serpent
Too close for comfort's sake

Always never felt so good
We're the power
Our hearts on fire, hearts on fire
Promises we always made when our hearts on fire.

Always never felt so good
We're the power
Our hearts on fire, hearts on fire
Promises we always made when our hearts on fire.
top

Violet Affair

Melt my heart
With summer in December for a while
Turnaround, take me back to the summertime

When you gave me violets
I pinned them in my hair
The scent, dizzy it fills the air
You gave me violets
I'll press them in my heart
We're unbound and free falling
Winter, spring, then summer falls
We're falling into this violet affair

Tempt my heart
July was so completely unparalleled
I know I'll never feel like that summertime

When you gave me violets
I pinned them in my hair
The scent, dizzy it fills the air
You gave me violets
I'll press them in my heart
We're unbound and free falling
Winter, spring, then summer falls
We're falling into this violet affair.
top

The Wind Breezes On

Well I got a secret
He told me it was sacred
Kick off your shoes and lay back
Today's not the day to show the cracks
Lift your head up, hold it now
Remember what the others say
Fear of the future's much too loud
What's there for you won't go running away

The wind breezes on
Like thoughts I can't rely on
The birds sing their song
While I figure out where I went wrong

I heard the others say
And watched them with their worry
Then turned and walked away
The wind it breezes on
I'll hold my breath so tightly
And run till it's OK.
top

Sugarland

Do you ever hold the flame?
Leave a light on
Will we recall their names?
Leave a light on
Deserter frequencies
There's no escape

Did we forget about fatality?
Where the wheels keep turning
In sugarland
We've lost control in all this urgency
And the fires keep burning
In sugarland

Our voyeurism won't ever set us free
A state emergency, not for you or me

Did we forget about fatality?
Where the wheels keep turning
In sugarland
We've lost control in all this urgency
And the fires keep burning
In sugarland

(Come to me, why won't you come to me?)
(A blackened heart, a blackened heart).
top

High Road

I hit the high road
Running till the batteries empty
A minefield of hope, but I'm ready
Ready to fly the nest or maybe fail the test
Let's make a date, take a chance, talk about it
An Olympian feat, I don't doubt it
Round and round he said to me

"Do you believe in love or rock n roll?"
"Do you believe in love or have you sold your soul?"
"Do you believe in love or rock n roll?"
"And which will be your downfall"

Be my baby, be my baby tonight
Be the boy that knows me but who never owes me
Saving all my best for you yet
And I need you now we're out of time
Be my baby tonight
Miles and miles but all the while
Won't you be my baby
Be my baby tonight

I'm not a fighter
Transparency's always apparent
But I'm always prepared for a torrent
Of tales and tests built only to impress
I'll take a chance, make a date, talk about it
With you if you think you are ready
Ready to fly the nest or maybe pass the test

Be my baby, be my baby tonight
Be the boy that knows me but who never owes me
Saving all my best for you yet
And I need you now we're out of time
Be my baby tonight
Miles and miles but all the while
Won't you be my baby
Be my baby tonight

I'm sorry if I let you down
You know that I can't give you up
And you said to me
"Do you believe in love or rock n roll?"
"Do you believe in love or have you sold your soul?"
"Do you believe in love or rock n roll?"
"And which will be your downfall?"
top

Laura

Laura, she was taken at the midnight hour
Full moon shining, lighting up the sky
No streetlights for guidance or warnings
When the eagle lands
Blood on our hands
Blood on our hands

Follow her, oh Laura
Her path gleams with rainwater
And foxes saunter, listening at their dens
The bats cry in despair till darkness ends
Under moonlit sky
Her jet black hair
Her jet black hair

And I wanna go where wild horses go
Where I left her, and nobody knows
I wanna go where wild horses go
Where I left her, and nobody knows
Noone knows, noone knows

And I wanna go where wild horses go
Where I left her, and nobody knows
I wanna go where wild horses go
Where I left her, and nobody knows
Noone knows, noone knows

Lost her in time and some other place
I remember when, back in '98
Lost her in time and some other place
Where Laura lies, now it's too late
Noone knows, noone knows

I'll wait for you where the horses run
But I'll never know where you have gone
I'll wait for you where the horses run
But I'll never know where you have gone
Noone knows, noone knows

And I wanna go where wild horses run
Where I left her, and nobody knows
I wanna go where wild horses run
Where I left her, and nobody knows
Noone knows, noone knows
Laura, oh Laura I love you.
top

Submariner

Your tired eyes
Leave me to the wilderness, leave me to the lions
And I see you there with the sun in your hand and the wind in your hair
A sorry man now the glory's gone
For you, for you,
He did it all for you

And your selfless pride
Bottled in a submarine
Leave it to the ocean
And I hold your hand
Sending shivers right down to the base of my spine
A lonely man, he's the only man
Who did it all
Who did it all for you

And you sold your soul to the deep blue sea
A submariner whose cool heart could never be free
Let him drift out on the tide
And you saved your heart for the deep blue sea
A submariner who promised to make you believe
That you'll never be apart

Your final reprise
Sail out on the heady seas
To salute devotion
And I see you there with the sun in your hand and the wind in your hair
A stoic man
A heroic man
Who did it all
Who did it all for you

And you sold your soul to the deep blue sea
A submariner whose cool heart could never be free
Let him drift out on the tide

And you saved your heart for the deep blue sea
A submariner who promised to make you believe
That you'll never be apart

And you sold your soul to the deep blue sea
A submariner whose cool heart could never be free
Let him drift out on the tide

And you saved your heart for the deep blue sea
A submariner who promised to make you believe
That you'll never be apart.
top

Gold

I fantasize
You and I, screaming just to make them go faster
I shut my eyes
The two of us, running till we're out of laughter

You're gold to me
Our light is fading
What's the use in crying
You know I'll always be there waiting
Softly now, reach out and make your pillow in my chest
From the playground of dreams
Where I don't mourn you anymore
You carved your name in my heart
So I can't break free from my past
And take a look at me now
Do you recognize me?

Long way from home
On a journey that I must make on my own
Through the playground of dreams
A shadow dancing all alone
You carved your name in my heart
Each initial etched so it would hurt
And take a look at me now
Do you recognize me?

I'm paralyzed
Broken ties, burned by our lack of answers
I shut my eyes
The two of us, running till we're out of laughter

You're gold to me
Our light is fading
What's the use in crying
You know I'll always be there waiting
Softly now, reach out and make your pillow in my chest
From the playground of dreams
Where I don't mourn you anymore
You carved your name in my heart
So I can't break free from my past
And take a look at me now
Do you recognize me?

Softly, softly now
Paint the town
A crystal world where we were born
A vision built to last
So please don't deny me

You carved your name in my heart
Each initial etched so it would hurt
And take a look at me now
Do you recognize me?
top

Strange Words and Weird Wars

Alphabet Block

Quick-fire, I'm on time, you're ahead of schedule
Blue walls, propaganda mixed with scare stories
Straight lines, colour coded, lead the way to a dead end waiting room

Machines throb, we're fluorescent in buzzing lights
These corridors smell so strange in this alphabet block I'm in
Fear and loathing, and wondering
Alphabet block

Holding on, holding on
Everybody's the same when it matters
Holding on, we're holding on
Hold my hand, don't let me go

Run, run, we won't waste a second,
A second you're out of time,
You might find, when you're on alphabet block

Run, run, we won't waste a second,
A second you're out of time,
You might find, when you're on alphabet block

Cigarettes litter ground, medieval houses
All the cars, bumper to bumper, not enough space
Break it down and resign to the fact that there are no promises here
drink this down, swallow hard, don't ask questions, right?
Just turn around, wait a week, til the alphabet block is done
Fear and loathing, still wondering
Alphabet block

Holding on, holding on
Everybody's the same when it matters
Holding on, we're holding on
Hold my hand, don't let me go

Run, run, we won't waste a second,
A second you're out of time,
You might find, when you're on alphabet block

Run, run, we won't waste a second,
A second you're out of time,
You might find, when you're on alphabet block

A softly spoken voice gives a choice
But I'm not ready to make a decision (solitary soul)
'Cause I need you with your warm advice
Won't hesitate, won't pay the price
All I ask of you: Can we just run

Run, we won't waste a second,
A second you're out of time,
You might find, when you're on alphabet block

Run, run, we won't waste a second,
A second you're out of time,
You might find, when you're on alphabet block
top

Bloom

You broke down the telephone
I was calling
A head so full of sorrow
Beggin' you baby, don't
Stop believing

Never forget our winter of discontent
When snow was not our friend
Beggin' you baby, don't stop
Don't stop
Don't stop
Believing

Oh oh, I'm in trouble again
We're an island battleground
Oh oh, I'm in trouble a, I'm in trouble again
Oh oh, I'm in trouble again
In a no-man's land we'll bloom
Oh oh, I'm in trouble a, I'm in trouble again

The old town, familiar souls
Time is stalling
A bitter taste to swallow
Beggin' you baby, don't stop believing

Never forget our winter of discontent
When snow was not our friend
Beggin' you baby, don't stop
Don't stop
Don't stop
Believing

Oh oh, I'm in trouble again
We're an island battleground
Oh oh, I'm in trouble a, I'm in trouble again
Oh oh, I'm in trouble again
In a no-man's land we'll bloom
Oh oh, I'm in trouble a, I'm in trouble again

A kiss so fond
Our love is blue
The time is now
I'm ready to fight for you
Oh baby I'm beggin' you

Oh oh, I'm in trouble again
We're an island battleground
Oh oh, I'm in trouble a, I'm in trouble again
Oh oh, I'm in trouble again
In a no-man's land we'll bloom
Oh oh, I'm in trouble a, I'm in trouble again
top

G.I.R.L.S

Frustration dripping from their eyes
Tongues a waggin' when she walks by
And I'm so in awe of you baby
They're in love with you (we're all human)

Crossing sides to glimpse a picture of a girl
A girl on fire, honey
Jealousy aside, we're only human
Girl, a girl on fire, honey
Feel the love inside (We're only human)

A girl on fire in my neighbourhood
She's got the whole place loving
her the way they should now
A girl on fire in my neighbourhood
She'll cross divides and unite us
Like the way we should now

Gotta start a fire if we're ever gonna learn
Burn burn burn, burn burn burn, burn burn burn
G.I.R.L.S.
Gotta get myself a girl on fire
Gotta start a fire if we're ever gonna learn
Burn burn burn, burn burn burn, burn burn burn
G.I.R.L.S.
Gotta get myself one of the girls.

Intoxication from her stride
The kids keep boasting that she's alright
And I'm so in awe of you baby
They're in love with you (we're all human)

Crossing sides to glimpse a picture of a girl
A girl on fire, honey
Jealousy aside, we're only human
Girl, a girl on fire, honey
Feel the love inside (We're only human)

Gotta start a fire if we're ever gonna learn
Burn burn burn, burn burn burn, burn burn burn
G.I.R.L.S.
Gotta get myself a girl on fire
Gotta start a fire if we're ever gonna learn
Burn burn burn, burn burn burn, burn burn burn
G.I.R.L.S.
Gotta get myself one of the girls
top

Electric Youth

A story of us unfolds
I stand arrested, my education strewn
A girl and a boy, a guilty pleasure

Plain to see that you're taking over me
So hurt me
I can't even help myself

Hey now, hey now, boy
I am your water now

Hey now, hey now, boy
I am your water now

When the nights are calling
Animal instinct always
Young blood cursing violent flames
When the nights are calling
Signals pulse like we're electric youth
When the nights are calling you

A girl and a boy, just fun,
No conversation
No complications here
Dark corners were made for dirty secrets

Work your way into my psyche and hurt me
I'm my own worst enemy

Hey now, hey now, boy
I am your water now
Hey now, hey now, boy
I am your water now

When the nights are calling
Animal instinct always
Young blood cursing violent flames
When the nights are calling
Signals pulse like we're electric youth
When the nights are calling you

When the nights are calling
When the nights are calling
When the nights are calling you
top

A Girl Walks Alone at Night

A girl walks home alone at night
A girl walks home alone at night
She doesn't think or feel tonight
Oh, like it's the best day of her life
The stage is set, bright lights are driving her on

Stranger's eyes, why do you wanna hurt me?
I'm not ready for broken dreams you deliver
My emergency
Cold, alone, black bangs cling to my wet skin
For all I've known and all I've been
All I could be
A girl walks home alone at night

A girl walks home alone at night
A girl walks home alone at night
Her friends have long been kissed goodnight
No, no one to keep you safe and sound
The bridge ahead, a talisman to fight for

Stranger's eyes, why do you wanna hurt me?
I'm not ready for broken dreams you deliver
My emergency
A girl walks home alone at night

Black and gold blur, can't find my way home
I'll keep the path and take my chance
Don't follow me
A girl walks home alone at night
top

Lost Maps

I see no empathy, bitter warnings, and lies
We are just ordinary people
Get on your knees and pray, I say

Whatcha gonna do, where are you gonna go
When the darkness closes on you
Is there anybody out there looking for you?
Do they know what you've been through?

Gotta find the time, search the silence,
Open up our minds, survival's not a crime
Is there anybody out there speaking the truth?
Don't believe what they tell you

A sly epidemic terrorizing our lives
No moral compass geography, we are lost maps today, I say

Whatcha gonna do, where are you gonna go
When the darkness closes on you
Is there anybody out there looking for you?
Do they know what you've been through?

Gotta find the time, search the silence,
Open up our minds, survival's not a crime
Is there anybody out there speaking the truth?
Don't believe what they tell you

Whatcha gonna do, where are you gonna go
When the darkness closes on you
Is there anybody out there looking for you?
Do they know what you've been through?

Gotta find the time, search the silence,
Open up our minds, survival's not a crime
Is there anybody out there speaking the truth?
Don't believe what they tell you
top

Summer Boys

Lay your blankets on the ground
Glitter falling from our eyes
Lips curling into smiles
Summer freckles come alive
Masquerading from the light
Mills and boons by our side

Over pools of pale midnight
Reflections dance and fight
And we are the runaways, runaways
Summer girls, summer days
Young and bold all out for fun

Remember them, those summer boys
We wanted just as friends
Getting high on their scent
The endless days of waterfalls
And drowning in their eyes
Summer boys, our heroes

Dark sunglasses close at hand
Second glances all the plan
Our web was slowly spun
Bathing suits rolled underarm
Ready for those summer guys
They let us walk right in

Summer girls rule on their own
Oh, we are the runaways
We'll take it on the run again
Run again, run again, run again
Darlings of those summer days

Remember them, those summer boys
We wanted just as friends
Getting high on their scent
The endless days of waterfalls
And drowning in their eyes
Summer boys, our heroes

Summer boys... Remember them...
top

Little Knives

I am, I am,
Wrecked now, wrecked now
I am, I am,
Wrecked now, wrecked now
Skin and bone
A relic, battle scars
Little knives
Hollow frame
Passion you're not the blame
But something's breaking...

I am the body, I'm the guardian
Bruise me and beat me with your wicked tongue
Lay down your fists and push those arms aside
And all that we're left with are those little knives

Stop talking, change the frequency baby
My satellite heart's come alive, I can breathe in
Time won't heal, memories are a flesh wound
But I am the blood and I'm keeping positive
A cartoon cutout when my back's turned
Keep it together when I, when I have no words
Oh your love, your little knives

(Little knives)

I am, I am,
Wrecked now, wrecked now
I am, I am,
Wrecked now, wrecked now
Skin and bone
Little knives
Hollow frame
Passion you're not the blame
But something's breaking...

I am the body, I'm the guardian
Bruise me and beat me with your wicked tongue
Lay down your fists and push those arms aside
And all that we're left with are those little knives

Stop talking, change the frequency baby
My satellite heart's come alive, I can breathe in
Time won't heal, memories are a flesh wound
But I am the blood and I'm keeping positive
A cartoon cutout when my back's turned
Keep it together when I, when I have no words
Oh your love, your little knives

(Little knives)

Stop talking, change the frequency baby
My satellite heart's come alive, I can breathe in
Time won't heal, memories are a flesh wound
But I am the blood and I'm keeping positive
A cartoon cutout when my back's turned
Keep it together when I, when I have no words
Oh your love, your little knives
top

Invisible Girl

I waited all those years
Lost heart to souvenirs
They're not a picture of you, nothing's fair
But I am old enough to know better
Whatever, I can't fight it
Fighting's not my game
So I'll remain an invisible girl

Why won't you wake up I'm by your side
Notice me an invisible girl

Why won't you wake up, I'm by your side
Notice me an invisible girl
Take me all in with your wild eyes
When I was dreaming, I was dreaming of...

You and I will never be one
We're just a little too far apart
Too far too distant
Always on the outside (I can't be)
Born to be the outside
Silently slide back to the shadows
Where this heavy heart will regroup
This heavy heart won't give it up

Regret's my greatest fear
A restless love affair
Always wanting more
But I was not clear
So let me tell you now that I'm older
Stronger and in control
A confident lover
Be it too late
Your invisible girl
top

Heartbreak Kid

Cool isolation where autumn sings the winter blues
Nothing but strange words and weird wars
It happens but once a year
Do you ever feel like you have lost your mind? But I'm OK
And on and on I'll go
And on and on and on I'll go

We don't have to worry now, the ghosts will never find us here
We'll keep on running now, and do it all again
You are my heartbreak kid
They say I'm the lucky one, but lucky doesn't know my name
I've known pain
I'm with the heartbreak kid

Sweet resolutions like weapons, dangerous desires
Can't see the woods for the trees
A poisonous paradise
If you ever feel like you have lost your mind, I'll have mercy
And on and on I'll go
And on and on and on I'll go

We don't have to worry now, the ghosts will never find us here
We'll keep on running now, and do it all again
You are my heartbreak kid
They say I'm the lucky one, but lucky doesn't know my name
I've known pain
I'm with the heartbreak kid

These strange words and weird wars are coming
A tree of buoys, a red road, our guide from the past
We'll be OK if we keep running
On frozen ground, no guts no glory

We don't have to worry now, the ghosts will never find us here
We'll keep on running now, and do it all again
You are my heartbreak kid
They say I'm the lucky one, but lucky doesn't know my name
I've known pain
I'm with the heartbreak kid
top

Various songs

Wolves

Hope or pray, but how long
before their cruel minds answer you?
Ha ha ha ha

Hope until we make the rules,
Hold on, how long?
Ha ha ha ha

Blow by blow, oh how long
before you grace us with your song?
Ha ha ha ha

So come with me,
Come with me,
Come with me,
Come with me,
Come with me,
Come with me,
There's a place where you can go, you're angry!

Raise all your voices
Gimme all your hands, take the chances
Don't be fooled, wolves in disguises,
All your hands! All your hands!
Hail for better days!

Raise all your voices
Gimme all your hands, take the chances
Don't be fooled, wolves in disguises,
All your hands! All your hands!
Hail for better days!

Fear or change, oh come on,
And grab your fight and follow though
Ha ha ha ha

Distance will set us apart
Come on, dream on
Ha ha ha ha

Blow by blow, oh how long
before we make it on our own?
Ha ha ha ha

Raise all your voices
Gimme all your hands, take the chances
Don't be fooled, wolves in disguises,
All your hands! All your hands!
Hail for better days!

Raise all your voices
Gimme all your hands, take the chances
Don't be fooled, wolves in disguises,
All your hands! All your hands!
Hail for better days!
top

Sweet Dreams

[Collaboration with RM Hubbert]

How many times
Have I've fallen for the best of them
The lies when I mistook you for a friend
So many times
I'll be your honest girl,
I'll be your honest girl

Am I the devil, am I the worst?
Have I got what I deserve?
And I can see
I'm not the only one
The only one you have to run to.

So give me all, so give me all your,
sweet dreams,
Your sweet dreams,
Your sweet dreams,
Your sweet, sweet dreams.

These dreams are mine,
They are mine to stop the blood
And hurt, the thorns I hide
As I grow more distant
Forever blind
Do we get what we deserve
Honesty's overrated.
I don't what I am waiting for
If I can be the only one I'll run
I'll run where my dreams cannot find me.

So give me all, so give me all your,
sweet dreams,
Your sweet dreams,
Your sweet dreams.
top

Helen Marnie's new mixtape

Mixtape Marnie 2013 by Ladytron on Mixcloud

Content:
01. ABBA - Hey, Hey, Helen
02. Miaoux Miaoux - Better For Now
03. Jenny Wilson - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward (The Knife Remix)
04. Friends - I'm His Girl
05. The Delgados - Pull the Wires From the Walls
06. Shadow Dancer - Parallax
07. Frida - I Know There's Something Going On
08. Santigold - The Keepers (The Knocks Remix)
09. Homework - It's All Over
10. Carly Simon - Why
11. The M Machine - Shadow in the Rose Garden
12. Neil Young - Heart of Gold
13. Siobhan Wilson - All Dressed Up
14. FPU - Ocean Drive
15. Broadcast - Come On Let's Go
16. Land of Bingo - Get Up
17. M.I.A. - Bad Girls (Monolith Remix)
18. The Twilight Sad - Another Bed
19. Roman Nose - Man's Gotta Eat
20. MS MR - Hurricane (Chvrches Remix)
21. Grizzly Bear - Foreground

Reuben Wu's June 2013 mixtape

Content:
01. Night Works - Long Forgotten Boy (Erol Alkan's Extended Rework)
02. Canyons - Dancing on Silk
03. Ladytron - Mirage (Mixhell Remix)
04. Disclosure - When the Fire Starts to Burn
05. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Behind the Mask
06. Blood Diamonds feat. Grimes - Phone Sex
07. Xeno & Oaklander - Italy
08. Housemeister - Italodisco
09. Fast Eddie - Acid Thunder (Fast Eddie Mix)
10. ADULT. - We Will Rest
11. Purity Ring - Grammy Ring
12. Ladytron - Moon Palace (ARIISK Remix)

The VPME interview (2013)

Firstly congratulations on Crystal World, which, without sounding ridiculously effusive, it is a truly spectacular album... So to the questions – rather than ask why you chose to release it via Pledge, I'd be far more interested to find out how you enjoyed the process - updating fans and interacting, getting instant feedback etc. Did it feel rather less like a solitary process knowing you had a fan base out there right behind you, following each stage of the creative process?

I actually really enjoyed the contact that Pledge gave me with people. I've always been quite into meeting fans, seeing what they're about, what they're into, and Pledge gave me this instantly. It was like a huge support network of friends spurring me on when things weren't quite going to plan. I felt really bad to have to keep announcing delays. I mean, if a record was released in the usual way this would not be an issue, but I did feel pressure. However, I'd say 99.9% of the pledgers were totally cool and just kept giving me messages of encouragement. For this, I am grateful.

Following on from that question, you say you felt pressure... was that because as a solo project it's all basically down to you and not a collective effort?

I felt great pressure, but more so because I got Pledge involved. Having people buy my album, along with some very pricey exclusives, without them knowing what the album would sound like scared the hell out of me. They put their trust in me, having only heard one little instrumental snippet. The day I uploaded the album to Pledge was a huge relief. It's like I didn't have to worry any more.

Was the writing process hugely different from working on Ladytron songs. Was it difficult without having a group of people to bounce ideas off?

I'd say it wasn't that much different to the Ladytron process – songs usually start in a solitary way and then may be passed on to someone else. The only difference is that I was working away on my own in my spare bedroom in London and would complete the song-writing alone. I had a pretty clear idea in my mind of the type of songs I wanted to write, the kind of structure I wanted. I knew I wanted it to be more Pop. The majority of the songs were written over the course of about 6-8 months and I feel like it was a time of great change for me personally.

When did you actually start writing the songs for Crystal World? I mean had you been working on them for a while with a view to a possible solo project at some hazy future point, or was it the Ladytron hiatus that gave you the time and space to start seriously writing?

I'd say 8 out of the 10 songs were written specifically for a solo record. The others were a little older but I knew I wanted them used for something. I guess after December 2011, I really started to write a lot, until I went to Iceland in August 2012. So that 7 month period was quite productive for me. 9 songs were taken to Iceland and completed. I then wrote the final track 'Gold' at home in Glasgow late last year, flew for one last time to Reykjavik, and recorded it there in December 2012. Having time away from touring really gave me the incentive to write.

You'd said you'd wanted your solo album to be more 'pop' than Ladytron. However, how would you define pop, do you mean 'pop' in the sense of it not quite being as heavy perhaps as Ladytron- more melody driven?

No, I think more traditional in a song-writing sense, with choruses really taking centre stage. Pop can be dark. Some of the best pop is. If people don't think Crystal World is dark then I think there must be something wrong with them. I also think Crystal World is perhaps more accessible to a wider audience. I've had feedback from friends, family, fans, of all different ages and backgrounds and they all seem to get it. Of course, whether it reaches a wider audience remains to be seen. I'm just proud to have it out there.

The album's production is perfectly judged, the songs sound beautifully polished but are given space to breathe. How did Danny get involved, where you a little worried that having someone from Ladytron would get a sort of, "Ah so it's Ladytron but without the other two" reaction? Saying that I'd imagine it was very important to have somebody on board who you have total trust in?

Danny's production really helped bring the album to life. He was really into me doing the solo thing and wanted to be a part of it. I was aware I would probably be judged for the Ladytron connection but I felt like my songs were strong enough to stand-alone. I am one quarter of Ladytron and I wasn't looking to make an album completely veering away from what we do, however, I think I've made an album that is subtly different, perhaps a little softer around the edges. People can say what they will. I will never please everyone. But I am more than happy with the result.

The album seems to have a number of recurring topics, with the sea being dominant. In literature, the water/the ocean are often used to symbolise change, the ebb and flow of life and of rebirth, new beginnings. Are these kinds of themes you were exploring when referencing the sea?

Definitely, it was a great period of change for me. I felt positive and excited at the prospect of new things on the horizon. I reference the sea quite a lot for other reasons also though, particularly on Submariner. I can't even begin to tell you how much this song means to me. That was another thing with this album. I felt like it was vital for people to hear and feel the real me in it. I wanted it to be personal. For people to listen and relate to what I was saying, or just realise the emotion.

The album photoshoot/publicity shots – again there's the water theme… you in a swimming pool initially in traditional swimming attire. Then in a swimming pool which is empty looking very rock n roll. Where did the photo shoot take place and what's the idea behind the imagery?

Well, the Pledge press photo was taken a few years ago by a friend called Amy K. Walker. She wanted to enter a photography competition and asked me to take part. It was shot in this strange, absolutely freezing, pool in the courtyard of her studio flat in Brixton. The album imagery was shot by another friend Lisa Devine, assisted by Mack Photography, in Govanhill Baths in Glasgow. I'm very into keeping things as local as I can and supporting the area around me and I'd been interested in using this as a possible location for a shoot. We got so much good stuff in there. I think the cover really epitomises the pop aspect of the record and that's exactly what I wanted, it also really works in relation to the title 'Crystal World'. It's stark, glacial, clean, and pretty.

Have you considered performing the album live, I'm sure we could sort something out here in Liverpool, Ladytron's spiritual home?

I have considered it and would love to do live gigs, but that would be the next challenge and at the moment, I'm not quite sure where to start! Right now, I have a huge pledge campaign to fulfil and that it my main objective. Again, I am thankful to pledgers for their patience!

Talking of homes, you've recently moved back to Glasgow after a number of years in Hackney- Was it something you'd always planned to do at some stage, was the pull of the homeland too much to resist. Are you up with the music scene in Glasgow?

My heart has always been in Scotland. Always. I did my time in London, around 13 years, and it was great, but I always knew I would move back to the motherland. Right now Glasgow seems to be bursting at the seams with great music. I'm trying to take more of it in.

I read somewhere that you'd said you were a bit of a technophobe. This may come as something of a shock to fans of Ladytron, who probably imagine all band members travel in futuristic "hover-cars" and live in the sort of high-tech hideaways that make the Bat-cave look like an early Neolithic hut. Can it be true, you really aren't surrounded by state of the art gadgets.

It is true; I am not a huge tech head or gadget fan. Sorry. I get by. I grew up with a piano, and later adapted to a synth. That pretty much says it all.

Finally, "do you believe in love or rock n' roll"

I believe in rock n roll love.

Source

"Crystal World" available on iTunes and Amazon

Crystal World is now available to buy from iTunes and Amazon.

Ladytron - Industrial Copera, Armilla, Spain, 2008

Content: True Mathematics / Playgirl / High Rise

You can find the original video here (autoplay activated).

Marnie - "Crystal World" reviews

The Electricity Club

Ladytron's Helen Marnie has finally released her long awaited debut solo album Crystal World. Going under the moniker Marnie, the project has, like recent releases by IAMX and Kelli Ali, been crowd funded by PledgeMusic.

A new music business model which allows an artist complete independence, it also enables fans to become involved in the process with opportunities to purchase exclusive memorabilia but most importantly, hear the new material before anyone else.

Marnie told her Pledgers: "I am humbled that so many of you had faith in me and were patient when the project was dogged by delays... I am proud of what we have achieved. This is just a small example of the power people have when they come together".

Recorded in Iceland, Crystal World captures the island's beautifully relaxed but volatile atmosphere... after all, volcanoes look serene when dormant but when they erupt! With Daniel Hunt in the co-producer's helm alongside Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson, Crystal World will inevitably draw comparisons with Ladytron as half the band are involved in its making. But the first thing to be noticed is how much lighter and brighter this album is than anything the quartet have ever done. The high density brooding and gothic tensions of Velocifero and Witching Hour are largely absent, indicating that the darker perspectives of Ladytron come from Mira Aroyo and Reuben Wu. While this album is not quite Saint Etienne, the thunderstorm that was occasionally Ladytron has cleared for now, allowing for some fresh air to enter and a warm front to move in.

Certainly classic pop tendencies are apparent with ABBA and Mana Cass being the obvious influences while Marnie's love of contemporary synthpop act and fellow Weegies Chvrches has also played its part. Opening track "The Hunter" is a tremendous calling card for Crystal World, the vibrant electropop single that Ladytron never quite got round to releasing. It is simply gorgeous and delectably glacial. "We Are the Sea" takes to a steadier tempo and pulses along like one of Chvrches' recent offerings. It hits with a magical chorus that is almost like The Hollies as whirring synths do battle while the closing string machine recalls Dindisc-era OMD.

More vintage string machine layers colour "Hearts on Fire", its structure possibly a cousin to atmospheric songs such as "White Elephant" and "Ace of Hz" from Gravity the Seducer, an album that saw Marnie assert her stamp vocally more than any other Ladytron album. But with her distinctive voice, even on Violet Affair which is musically as far from Ladytron as one can possibly go with its soulful Summer of Love feel, thoughts hark back to the last Ladytron album although her pristine Mamas & The Papas harmonies do make it more Kópavogur Dreaming than Destroy Everything You Touch.

Electronic bass propels "The Wind Breezes On" and could be Marnie's "Love Is a Stranger" but her higher register larynx keeps it distinct. "Sugarland" is percussively dominant and perhaps the closest Crystal World veers to the dark side as it ventures towards windier, more chilling climes with some infinite guitar textures adding some menace.

It lightens up again as some marvellous Scandipop makes its presence felt on the wonderful "High Road" before the neo-acappella "Laura". Using a variety of voice effects, Marnie switches octaves on this lush centrepiece reminiscent of Goldfrapp circa Felt Mountain before a detuned sequential passage interrupts for the coda. It's back to pop on the extended drama of "Submariner" before the climax of "Gold". This closing track could be Hurts "The Water" re-written from a female perspective as some lonely piano chords set the tone before an epic orchestration augmented by guitars and drums steadily kicks in.

Crystal World achieves Marnie's objective "to create an electronic album with more of a pop element and pristine vocals" but it is more than that. Like Marnie herself, this album is pretty. Vocally and musically expansive, it is like a dreamy Arctic escapist fantasy. The final word on Crystal World must go to the lady herself: "For now, I am going to rest my ears, but my advice to you would be to play it loud and proud!!!! I owe you. Love Marnie xxxx".

Source

Strageways Radio

Ladytron's Helen Marnie's stunning debut solo album provides absolutely all we require from music. Intelligent, moving and suffused with the glacial beauty that has become something of a trademark it stirs the emotions, it lifts the spirits, it engages the heart and is frankly one of the finest albums we've heard in many a year. A wonderful symphonic electronic masterpiece.

Source

The VPME

10/10

Helen Marnie appears to be a person who's not one for letting the grass grow under her feet. Despite over a decade's worth of acclaim and heavy duty touring as front woman with electronic legends Ladytron, rather than taking a well-earned breather during the bands short hiatus Helen utilised the down time to record her first solo album. After an intense period of writing, she turned to the fan-funded music platform PledgeMusic to give the project wings and then relocated to Reykjavik to record the album. Released under her surname - Marnie, the resultant album Crystal World is without doubt one of the finest collection of songs you're likely to hear this year.

Crystal World once again lays bare the preposterous fallacy that electronic music somehow lacks the emotional resonance that music written on a wooden guitar has. Make no mistake this is a hugely emotive record which sees Helen step out from behind her mysterious sultry Ladytron persona and reveal herself to be a songwriter of enormous emotional depth and honesty, able to produce songs which are poetic, fragile, heartfelt and often downright heart-breakingly beautiful. In doing so she demonstrates just how inspiring, poignant, and engaging pop music can be when it's produced with such eloquence and sincerity. If this album genuinely doesn't move you then we can only conclude your sorry excuse for a soul is as withered, empty and indeed as tiny as Jeremy Clarksons' emaciated little scrotum. There is nothing for you here.

From the driving electro pop noir of "The Hunter", to the elegiac beauty of the epic seven minutes plus "Submariner", the anthemic "Hearts On Fire" right through to emotionally devastating hammer blow of album closer "Gold" this is an album that delivers on every level. It's an album that stirs the emotions, lifts the spirits, and engages the heart. Indeed to quote Leonard Lowe, if people have, "...forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of what they have and what they can lose" then we'd suggest they could do far worse than listen to Crystal World by way of a reminder because this is sublime, glorious, majestic, life affirming pop of the highest order.

An electro pop map of the human heart with more empathy warmth and spirit than a million contrived indie lad rock 'anthems'. In fact, if any album betters this during the remainder of the year they really will have to deliver a masterpiece because this is truly fucking wonderful. Could all pop music sound this good if we barred big labels execs and the shallow A and R meddlers from the artistic process? Who knows? But we do know this – we are genuinely so very grateful that this album exists.

Source

Darla Records

Crystal World is a glittering electronic pop album by Marnie, the moniker adopted by Ladytron lead singer Helen Marnie for her debut solo project, produced by Daniel Hunt and co-produced by Bardi Johannsson.

Recorded in Reyjavik, Iceland, in August 2012, Crystal World comprises ten original songs written by Marnie while Ladytron enjoy a temporary sabbatical. Crystal World evokes the collision of two spheres. In the midst of a volcanic electronic landscape, the heart and soul of Marnie merge to create a glacial pop affair. Frequently Marnie laments the sea, itself so suggestive of change and movement, a feeling which ebbs and flows across the record, luring the listener in despite the gathering emotional storm.

Focus track "The Hunter" was issued as a download single in May 2013. "Hearts On Fire" is another dark anthem with a pop chorus that builds until it's close. Venturing further into Crystal World, "Submariner" is a fragile tale to warm the coldest of hearts, while closing track "Gold" inspires just the right amount of melancholy, at the same time ending with soaring guitars and synths and an immense feeling of hope.

Source

Polari Magazine

5/5

Once Ladytron announced their hiatus in 2012, lead-singer Helen Marnie resolved that she would utilize her time by making an album of her own, which is something she had considered for a few years. During its recording, Marnie admitted that she felt like she brought the pop component of Ladytron and wanted to explore it further on her own terms. With her demos in place, she took on fellow bandmate, Daniel Hunt, to produce the album with co-production from Barði Jóhannsson. She relocated to the scenic realm of Iceland to bring the songs where she felt they could go. The venture allowed her to make the pop-driven album, both atmospheric as it is immediate, that she geared for.

The opening cry of "The Hunter" rapidly recalls the inimitable aspect of Ladytron's music: Helen Marnie's voice. Her pristine vocals are one of the most arresting features of her band's music as well as this debut, with an ability to move effortlessly between the full-bodied and serene. It's inevitable some will see parallels between Crystal World and previous work. Nonetheless, this does not diminish the achievement of the album. Some of the band's finest moments implicitly shimmer at times, such as the pop-noir of "Discotraxx" and the mind-numbingly brilliant "Destroy Everything You Touch". However, Marnie has not tried to emulate or recreate such songs in any way; rather the pop focus of her songwriting brings to mind what made those songs unforgettable.

The album explores different styles and feelings, which is loosely tied together by the theme of nature's elements. "We Are the Sea" broods with moody synthesizers and bold drum sequences before delivering its dramatic and unpredictable chorus. She experiments with swirling '60s sounding pop on "Violet Affair" and seduces with the uplifting, sugary chorus of "High Road". What becomes clear is that writing on her own has given her space to allow her melodies to develop and voice to breathe and go new places.

The record reaches its zenith with the stunning seven-minute epic, "Submariner". Telling the story of an old man who has lived his life and can no longer find comfort or joy in the world, he decides to embrace his solitude and escape the world by living the rest of his life "in the deep blue sea". In its seven minutes, the trickling piano that opens the song takes us on a journey which maneuvers from the bouncy melody of the verses, the wistful emotion of the chorus until it reaches its epic conclusion. Marnie builds layers upon layers of synthesizers, piano and drums to evoke the sound and image going deeper into the watery depths of the sea. It's an instant of pure excitement, with hair-raising intensity and passionate lyrics, making it one of the best moments in music in 2013.

The album ends with the lush ballad of "Gold". By then, if the album has not showcased her true skill in songwriting, this song will leave you with no doubt. Marnie strips everything away to just bare piano, singing of a relationship, as tells a loved one "to make a pillow in my chest". In her interview with Polari Magazine earlier this year, the singer described the album as the colour of "midnight blue, merging into turquoise" and it's easy to hear why she chose such a strong colour to represent it. Crystal World does not wax or wane, nor attempt to prove something to its listeners; instead the songs come fully formed from someone who is certain of their identity, personally and artistically. As the final synthesizers play out, the album leaves you with the impression that if this is what Helen can create on her own, there is certainly an exciting solo career in front of her.

Crystal World is a rich and assured debut by a woman who has crafted and explored electronic music for more than a decade, a body of work which has lent itself to this album's escapist and dreamy textures. On the closing number, when she sings of the journey that she "must make on my own", one hopes that this album is merely the first step onto a very long road.

Source

eMusic

4.5/5

As a member of seductively austere quartet Ladytron, Helen Marnie has impressive electropop credentials. Her solo debut feels less strict, less pristine, as if all the wires and circuitry are slowly starting to melt down. Recorded in Iceland with Ladytron compadre Daniel Hunt, Crystal World doesn't quite thaw all the ice around her voice, but there is an emotional heat to "We Are the Sea" and "Violet Affair" that softens the album around the edges.

Natasha Khan's dreamier extravagances are detectable on "Gold" and "The Wind Breezes On", expansive electronic horizon-chasers that hint at existential crises. Best of all, however, are the moments where the drama becomes explicit: the increasingly ominous hush of "Laura", or the space-Goldfrapp of "High Road", sweet dreams cut with an dash of sour. It may still be touched by a synthesized chill, but Crystal World has atmosphere to burn.

Source

Softsynth

Shortest review ever – fucking. extraordinary.

Oh, sorry, you want more? Context? Depth? Sigh. Alright.

Taking a step away from Ladytron, lead vocalist Helen Marnie (along with fellow Ladytronite Daniel Hunt as producer) has gifted us with as clean, lovely and melodically beautiful an electronic album as has been released this year. A simpler, more straightforward effort than the last Ladytron effort, Gravity the Seducer, Crystal World is pure pop confection but not in any kind of disposable or tossable way. To produce pop music this good, this unsullied, takes staggering talent.

The album rises on the strength of the song craft (though the production is surprisingly strong as well for what felt like an offshoot project at the time of its conception). Clever key changes or an errant note that catches the listener off guard, or slinky, sneaky melodies, harmonies or vocal dips, clever moments like the ascending, bordering-on-urgent vocal build toward the end of the chorus of "We Are the Sea" – it all conspires to create something so smart, so fun to listen to and so addictive it crashes through the speakers and shakes you by the lapels.

It's easily the most vocally pretty Marnie has ever been. In fact the totality of the album feels "pretty". The emotion Marnie gets out of each track is distinct from the more robotic persona of the Ladytron collective (compare anything on this album to say, "Seventeen"...). It shows a degree of vocal talent only hinted at before. It's a lovely, terrific discovery. From start to finish, the album is a treat, whether the traditional pop of "The Hunter" or the throbbing, propulsive "Sugarland" or the haunting, sad, "Laura" – she jumps from strength to strength. An absolute highlight on the electronic calendar.

Source

Pitchfork

6.3/10

My note: apparently the reviewer doesn't know the difference between a solo project and band's album...

If you've ever asked a band, "Where are they now?" the answer is often "on Kickstarter". The most fervent adopters of crowdfunding tend to be neither the multimillionaire likes of Amanda Palmer and Zach Braff or the scrappy starter bands that give good testimonial, but acts who've fallen off the news cycle but have kept enough of a core fanbase to pay for an album. In a sense this is rather cheery, offering established artists a graceful way into a mid- to late-career of house shows, hangouts, and folksy patronage; but for better and worse, that career becomes self-contained. While the larger campaigns tend to be the proof of the concept before a promotional storm, and the smaller ones are either lotto tickets or popular enough that the bands would probably have gotten snapped up soon anyway, the rest usually end up making their Kickstarters their entire promo and distribution cycle. The music, if it's released, exists inside walled gardens: by fans alone, for fans alone. Even Palmer's album, for all its heaped-on importance and accompanying megabytes of grumbling or praise, was mostly heard by her devotees.

Which is all to explain how what's for all intents and purposes the sixth Ladytron album was conceived, funded, and released this year through PledgeMusic to their least ado in years: there've been the standard lyric sheets and signed merch as well as shoes, a bikini, and even a 1998 Rover Cooper Mini Sport ("rust in usual areas") on offer, but almost no press. It's strange Crystal World is billed as Helen Marnie, Ladytron's lead vocalist, but between returning producer Daniel Hunt (as well as Keren Ann collaborator Bardi Johannsson) and the downcast synthscapes he creates, it'd be believable as a successor to 2011's relatively sedate Gravity the Seducer, which wasn't as zeitgeisty as Witching Hour but hardly obscure. It's a bit of a curiosity: an admitted pop move that makes no plays at a pop audience and that's mostly midtempo, like a Ladytron album composed entirely of their ballads. Even the title sounds closed off.

What's striking is how even an album so insular in distribution and in sound, is nevertheless conversant with trends; a surprising number of boxes get checked. Single "The Hunter", the most Ladytron-like track here, is a rippling bit of Moroder by Hunt; if it weren't for the gentle lilt or Witching Hour melody of the chorus, it could be anyone's sequencer mania. Vaguely political "Sugarland" is the kind of 80s pop ballad with swooning backing vocals that everyone's trying to write this year, backed with the shoegazey guitars and synths they've tried to reproduce for longer. There's a slightly sullied chanson in "Violet Affair", a reverb-swept song named "Laura" about someone close enough to Laura Palmer (after a dye job here, but demise and affairs intact), a sprawling, M83-ish set closer in "Hearts on Fire" (which doesn't actually close Crystal World; the sequencing is a bit off).

But while Crystal World's material is generally strong, and timely enough, as an album it's a subdued entry. Ladytron's best albums worked because Mira Aroyo's tracks provided a steelier, tenser contrast to Marnie's more plainspokenly ethereal sound. (This was part of the problem with Gravity the Seducer, all Marnie and all sedate.) Without a second voice, an album like this needs at least one standout single all the more; but while Marnie was responsible for those in Ladytron, there's no "Destroy Everything You Touch" or "Ghosts" here. The closest is "The Hunter", whose charms, while many, are muted; or "High Road", which is like Ladytron covering "Tainted Love" with a few riffs from "Like a Virgin" -- but not nearly as massive as that sounds; the production is far too diffident (one wonders what NIN and Velocifero's Alessandro Cortini would have done with it) and the chorus hinges on "do you believe in love or rock and roll", a lyric that'd be more convincingly delivered by basically anyone else.

If Crystal World isn't a one-off, there are basically two ways Marnie can go. She could double down on the big synthpop singles and thus launch herself into a fast-crowding field, or-- perhaps more promising-- pursue the witchier, mythier direction suggested by "The Wind Breezes On" and "Submariner", as haunting and crystalline as Marnie's best material and better matches for her florid lyricism. Fortunately, if she does, these tend to be just the sort of detours less rewarded by the hype cycle than by patrons. Those, at least, Marnie has plenty of.

Source

Love Is Pop

My note: Also selected as Album of the Day.

Marnie is the immensely-talented lead singer, and one of the songwriters and keyboardists, of the popular electronic pop outfit Ladytron. This album — her solo debut — was produced by Ladytron's Daniel Hunt, along with the Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson, and so it sounds an awful lot like a Ladytron record. And that, of course, is a very good thing. But, don't worry, Ladytron has not broken up. Marnie was simply writing a lot of songs in between Ladytron albums and decided to use her vacation time to make a solo record. And Ladytron fans will be very glad that she did, as this is one of her most vital and enticing works to date.

You may or may not be aware that Marnie is Scottish, but Crystal World was actually made in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was fan-funded through PledgeMusic — she achieved 100% of her goal in just 3 days — where Marnie explained why she recorded in Iceland: "Lyrically, the album is expansive, but the Elements do play a part in much of the record, with the sea being particularly dominant and reoccurring. So, with the sea in mind and beautiful landscapes, I decided to fly to Iceland to record in a studio there. The light is so pretty, the air fresh, the sea vast, that I thought it would be the perfect setting to record."

Crystal World opens with the stunning first single, "The Hunter", which is slightly less synthy and slightly more electro than Ladytron. It's also somewhat darker than most of Ladytron's music in my opinion. "Dry your eyes friend then make a wish then say goodbye", Marnie sings during the haunting chorus. She might call herself "the hunter" during said chorus, but she doesn't much sound like one during most of the song. Quite the contrary, there's an air of fragility about it — you'd think she was on the run from hunters herself — and it's beautiful and breath-taking.

"The Hunter" is followed by "We Are the Sea", which was co-produced by Alessandro Cortini. (It's the sole track that he worked on.) With layers and layers of sound, it's easily one of the richest songs I've heard all year and it's both dazzling and intoxicating. Every time I listen to it I feel like I'm falling under some kind of spell and I always feel like I'm listening to it for the first time because I hear new sounds each and every time. Its punchy beats, dark synth and fuzzy bass are immediately noticeable, but there's much more buried beneath the surface to be discovered. You have to dig deep to find some of it, but if you like your music lush and hypnotic then you'll find it immensely rewarding.

If you're a fan of Ladytron's more anthemic tracks then you're sure to fall quickly in love with "Hearts on Fire", which evokes Ladytron's "Destroy Everything You Touch" without ever quite sounding like she's trying to re-create the much beloved classic. Meanwhile, the moody, synth-heavy "Violet Affair" immediately recalls Ladytron's later day work, though it also feels like it owes an awful lot to The Doors of all bands with its organ and general psychedelic vibe.

Another highlight is "Sugarland", which packs a mighty, thumping beat and other insistent percussion, making it the album's most abrasive track, a proverbial shock to the system, though I mean that in a good way. While the sonorous beats are entrancing, and the song has a general opiate-like vibe, they also jolt one's system and ensure that you're paying attention, not unlike a shot of adrenaline to the heart to snap one out of a drug overdose. During the second half of the song, sirens can even be heard off in the distance. To that end, the track also has layers of dark synth, which give it an ominous vibe that makes one feel like something very bad is going to happen.

"Do you believe in love or rock 'n' roll", Marnie asks during the bittersweet chorus of "High Road", arguably the most poetic and romantic track on the album. "Be my baby tonight", she sings repeatedly throughout the highly singable song. Sometimes it sounds like an innocent invitation but at others it sounds like a demand. Suffice to say it's not a lovey dovey affair, as we're never sure if the person the song is directed at feels similarly; it could very well be from the point of view of a stalker.

The most ambitious and truly epic track on the album is "Submariner", which is just over seven and a half minutes in length. "I hold your hand and it shivers right down to the base of my spine", Marnie sings dreamily during the quirky love song, which would seem to be about a girl who falls in love with someone who goes off in a submarine. "You sold your soul to the deep blue sea", begins the dizzying chorus, which makes you wonder if she isn't deliberately trying to give you vertigo. One thing is for certain — the vivid final third of the track takes you on an adventure that could very well make you feel seasick with ambient ocean sounds and submarine-like bleeps and blips lurking just below its sometimes shiny and often gloomy synths. It's the greatest journey on an album of journeys that take you everywhere from the most desolate parts of Iceland to the warmest parts of the human heart.

Crystal World is a true masterpiece, a magnus opus on par with any of the amazing albums Marnie has ever made with Ladytron. A grand statement? Perhaps. But it's entirely true. Without ever coming across like she's being a show off, it proves that she is one of the most important and inspired "electronic" musicians to ever live. It takes a truly brilliant artist to craft catchy pop songs that also feel whimsical and experimental and Marnie pulls it off perfectly time and time again. These songs are exquisitely painted, using more colors than a Crayola 64 pack, and each is a crowning achievement.

Source

Music Is My Oxygen

4/5

Co-producing with bandmate Daniel Hunt and featuring several numbers originally written with her day job in mind, Ladytron lead vocalist Helen Marnie doesn't appear too concerned about making any giant leaps with her solo debut album, Crystal World. Indeed, recorded amongst the beautiful glacial landscapes of Reykjavik, the majority of the album's ten tracks possess a similarly Arctic quality to the Anglo-Bulgarian quartet's bewitching brand of austere synth-pop.

Lead single "The Hunter" is a gorgeously shimmering fusion of propulsive bass-lines, skittering percussion and haunting noir-pop hooks which could have been lifted from the band's 2005 breakthrough, Witching Hour. The widescreen atmospherics of "Hearts On Fire" recall the more epic moments from 2011's Gravity the Seducer, and "Submariner" simply extends their signature wave of wistful synths, shoegazing melodies and 80s-inspired electro beats for seven emotionally-charged minutes.

Produced by Nine Inch Nails' Alessandro Cortini, "We Are the Sea" is perhaps the tip of the record's iceberg, its captivating industrial electronica sound revealing new brooding textures with each listen. But Crystal World is no less spell-binding when Marnie ventures outside her comfort zone.

"Violet Affair" sees her channel the "Summer of Love" chanteuses of the 60s against a backdrop of swirling psychedelic organs and thumping rock drums. "Laura" is a gorgeously twinkling, nearly a cappella ballad reminiscent of Goldfrapp's avant-garde pop beginnings. Elsewhere, the stunning fusion of sweeping string and melancholic piano chords of closer "Gold" mines the same 'Hollywood Sadcore' vibe as Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" before building up to a deliciously dreamy synth-guitar finale.

Marnie, could have afforded to distance herself from her cult outfit just a little further. But although Crystal World doesn't quite make the most of the opportunity to test new waters, it's still a consistently engaging debut which should cement her status as one of electro-pop's most enchanting vocalists.

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The Arts Desk

4/5

There have been those who have uncharitably suggested that Crystal World is in fact a sixth Ladytron album rather than the solo debut of the band's frontwoman, Helen Marnie. It's an easy, if lazy, conclusion to jump to when said album flirts with many of the same electro-dreampop calling cards and features a bandmate on production credits, but take a trip into Marnie's world and there is plenty to set it apart.

Curiously it's on the vocals that the differences become most obvious. This is still the same Marnie of the sometimes sultry, sometimes glacial persona she adopts on the best known of Ladytron's work but these songs - as well as containing some of her prettiest performances - demonstrate a fragility born of emotional depth rather than brittleness. "We Are the Sea", for example, begins with a typically deadpan performance over a pulsing, monotonous beat, but by its first chorus the song has blossomed into something warm and blissful. Later, "Laura" aches with a profound sense of loss, barely obscured by elegiac lyrics and twinkling synths.

Crystal World lets Marnie try on a few characters: the femme fatale of shimmering electropop album opener "The Hunter"; the temptress of "Sugarland"; the otherworldly priestess of "The Wind Breezes On". "Violet Affair" is a proper guilty pleasure pop song with its high school musical melody and cutesy lyrics while the seven-minute epic "Submariner" - which builds a sweet, simple riff into a mystical wall of sound - and haunting closing track "Gold" could come from another album entirely.

It's a lot of ground to cover in ten tracks and the first couple of listens could leave you a little breathless, but as the album's melodic hooks start to work their way the decade-plus of experience that Marnie and producer/bandmate Daniel Hunt have at making electronica sound soulful becomes apparent. Crystal World is an album that, while not always cohesive, showcases a considerable songwriting talent.

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The List

3/5

Electro-revivalism and crystalline future-folk on Ladytron singer solo debut

Helen Marnie has a hard job ahead of her, carrying off those press shots on her own where the stylish pan-sexual majesty of her sometime band Ladytron's pictures continued to be an otherworldly sight to behold. We're sure she'll manage, but just so the link isn't severed completely, this ice-cool selection of shimmering nouveau synth-pop has undoubtedly been bolstered by the presence of Ladytron's guiding hand Daniel Hunt in the producer's booth.

Funded via PledgeMusic, recorded in Iceland in 2012 with help from Bang Gang's Bardi Johannsson and finally released after some delays, it's a highly confident package with a real sense of its own identity, although it's probably best enjoyed as a whole without trying to dig out individually arresting radio hits. At once there's a warmth and a reserved distance to Marnie's voice, as if she were a French chanteuse singing in an echoing, empty club, and it's probably this quality which invites comparisons with Stereolab and in particular the vocal style of Laetitia Sadier on "The Wind Breezes On" and the lengthy, glistening "Submariner".

Yet the electro-revivalist milieu from which Ladytron first sprang remains the overriding musical feature here, and tracks like the opening trio "The Hunter", "We Are the Sea" and "Hearts on Fire" call to mind the bubblegum sophistication of latterday Human League, albeit without that group's harmonic Susan 'n' Joanne dynamic. The album mellows as it progresses, and those imagined French influences become more pronounced, not to mention a previously-unheard but welcome quality to Marnie's voice. Born, raised and now once more based in Glasgow, she allows a certain Caledonian buzz to enter her voice on the frosty ballads "Laura" and "Gold", possibly the most affecting tracks here. They suggest that maybe her future isn't on the dancefloor, but in the same kind of crystalline future-folk style which Alison Goldfrapp has made such a virtue of.

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Glasgow Herald

A silvery dream machine of an album with a sci-fi sheen on which she sounds a little like Chvrches' Lauren Mayberry's big sister.

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Flipside

7.5/10

Fans of Ladytron have been eagerly donating money to this lady's PledgeMusic fund, enabling singer Marnie to finally realize her debut solo-album. As you'd expect, Crystal World is cerebral synth-pop not unlike that of her electronic forebearers, if a little more commercial and personable.

Lead track "The Hunter" has all the cosmopolitan poise you'd expect from an artist who wears kick-ass heels well (see the sleeve) and who trills sweetly, like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. With Ladytron band-mate Daniel Hunt installed as producer and various Icelandic luminaries aiding the creative process, glistening electronic pop proves to be the preferred direction throughout this bright-eyed album, as does a big chorus or five.

If "The Hunter" is somewhat straightforward in a Dubstar, Goldfrapp and La Roux stylee, the following track blows it out of the water and turns Crystal World into a serious prospect. "We Are the Sea" is a slower, moodier stomper that positively begs to be a single, if only singles were cared about anymore (which sadly, they aren't). Like, like, like.

Sadly, the heady heights scaled by "We Are the Sea" aren't quite reached again, although the likeable vintage romp "Violet Affair" won me over quickly, while the emotive Laura eschews the usual thudding beats for atmospherics and a momentary and mildly-bewitching climax. A similar result can be heard on the album's strident closer, "Gold", also very good.

Marnie's forte, for me, is the more reflective side of her art, rather than the samey 'upfront' middle section of the album, all of which is OK but not jaw-dropping. Still, seven of the ten songs are bang on the money, all of which translates thus: Crystal World is a cut above most pop offerings around at the moment and should be deemed worthy of your attention directly.

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Almost Predictable. Almost

For someone who professes to write about as much Glasgow based or related electronic music as possible, I've no real excuse for not picking up on Helen Marnie's ace debut album Crystal World until now. I love Ladytron, bought the RSD 12" of "The Hunter", but somehow overlooked the album until this week. It was released in June 2013 for God's sake! Thankfully, I've now put that right and, since the weekend, haven't stopped playing it. If you're a fan of electropop, synthpop or whatever you want to call it, you really should give this album a go.

The album opens with the brilliant "The Hunter" which is a pulsing electropop song which, inevitably I guess, brings to mind Ladytron albeit a Ladytron not frightened to put a pop sheen on things. As with most of the tracks on here, the song has a ridiculously catchy chorus and it's a really strong start to the album. It's topped however by track 2, "We Are the Sea", which is as good an electronic song as I've heard in years. Chvrches have rightly had much praise over the last couple of years but "We Are the Sea" is as good if not better as anything on The Bones of What You Believe. The chorus again is the key here - it's stunning. If you try one song from the album, try this one.

Two tracks in and you're hooked and "Hearts On Fire" keeps you there. A moodier slice of synthpop than the openers, it brings to mind Pet Shop Boys more mournful moments like Kings Cross or Behaviour which is certainly no bad thing. I will stop going on about choruses at some point as it's probably boring you now but once again, the chorus here is brilliant. Helen's ear for melody and the way her voice mixes with the electronics throughout really makes this album stand out and the opening three tracks are as good as any opening to an album as I've heard in a long time.

Next up, "Violet Affair" has a 60's feel to it, mixing a French pop style with a slight psychedelic feel to great effect before "The Wind Breezes On", slows the pace with a slice of moodier electronics that still retains a pop like feel quite marvelously.

"Sugarland" is a really cool track; it focuses more on beats and has a more driving, pulsing feel to it than anything on here bar "The Hunter". The different styles of song used throughout all work which is something worth noting. Nothing stands out in a bad way or seems out of place. "High Road" returns to the pop theme, sounding like an updated version of Yazoo, producing a perfect slice of synthpop, before "Laura" then transforms the mood again. It's a really interesting track, layered with different vocal effects and reminiscent in places of Goldfrapp's quieter moments.

The penultimate track "Submariner" is one of the album's standouts. A nearly 8 minute long electronic pop masterclass, the song is a superb example of how good electronic music can be when it's kept clean and simple and its extended outro brings to mind the poppier side of Vince Clarke's more experimental moments. We then end on "Gold", a brilliant end to a brilliant album, a track that once again has one of those choruses that you can't help but fall in love with.

Like I said at the outset, I've no idea at all how I missed out on this album when it was released. It really is a gem of an album and it's one that anyone who has even a passing interest in electronic pop should hear. There may be easy comparisons to be made with Ladytron or Chvrches but doing so misses the point. This album stands on its own and, if you do want to compare it to The Bones of What You Believe, then it is at the very least the equal of that and is deserving of as much attention as that album has had. Go and check this out right now.

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"Crystal World" was released today!

Finally, after many delays, Crystal World was released today.