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Marina V Modern Fairytale Review by Gary Hill I have to admit to being a huge fan of Tori Amos. That’s important because Marina V’s voice has a lot in common with Amos. In fact, at times she’s a dead ringer. Now, with that said, not all of the album is in keeping with the type of music that Amos creates, but a lot of it is. Some of the other sounds to be found here include modern rock, Lana Lane, Kate Bush and old time rock and roll. The thing is, while I’m not blown away by every song here, I am won over by most of them. This CD fires on enough thrusters to make it a great listening experience I’ll be coming back to over and over again. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2008 Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Hope The motif that makes up this track has a bit of a singer songwriter feeling to it. It’s more developed in terms of the arrangement than that. This is an intriguing cut that would be quite at home at Lilith Fair.

The Strength I Need Coming in more as a ballad, this is a much more powerful track than the one that preceded it. I’d have to say that it has a lot in common with the music of Kate Bush, but perhaps there is also some Lana Lane in the mix. This one comes darn close to progressive rock. If the whole album were like this I’d probably put it into that category.

Sunshine Guaranteed This is a bouncy track with the music feeling somewhat like The Beatles or even the Monkees. The vocals, on the other hand, are in the neighborhood of Tori Amos or Kate Bush.

Fool With an anthemic ballad approach, this one feels much like a cross between Lana Lane and Tori Amos. It’s one of my favorite tracks on show here.

Fate Musically this track has a bit of an old school rock and roll feeling to it. The vocals, though are very much in keeping with the Tori Amos-like nature of the previous piece. This one rocks out pretty well.

I'll Stand Up For You This one is much gentler and feels even more so after the rocking track that preceded it. Marina V gives us the most purely Tori Amos-like song thus far.

Alone Here we get a bit of Grease feeling. This one is OK, but not up to the level of some of the other music here.

Love Me Back A playful musical texture makes up the backdrop of this rather sad song. This is another that has Tori Amos written all over it.

Wilhelmina This is a dark and disquieting piece. It’s one of the most dramatic tunes on show here and has a definite classical feeling to a lot of it. It’s also another of the more blatantly Amos-like pieces. Did I mention that it’s also one of my favorite tracks here? Both the piano and the vocals are purely wonderful on this.

Rain on the Butterfly Bouncy and fun, this has more of a pure pop rock texture. The vocals still bear a definite resemblance to Tori Amos, though. I like this one quite a bit, but it might not make my short list of best cuts on the disc.

(Babushka/Grandmother - in Russian) As the parenthetical portion of the title says, this is not in English. It has a gentle lullaby texture to a lot of it, but does get more powerful at points. It’s another that feels like it could have come from one of Tori Amos’ albums. It’s quite pretty and one of my favorites.

Moonlight Lullaby As the title might suggest, this is a pretty and gentle number that’s quite comforting. It’s also got more of those definite Tori Amos leanings.

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