Album Review: Unbound









Music reviewer Bill Copeland has given a thorough and highly complementary review of Marina’s new album, Unbound (2013), in his music blog. Many thanks, Bill! Here are some excerpts:

Many of her songs have a haunting quality, as if there is an underlying spirit driving them on… No matter, though, which technique she employs, genre she borrows from, or inflection she sings in, Evans has come up with a complete artistic expression of where she is today.

She’s a master of using self-restraint to keep a lid on her power, which makes her song a more powerful expression, her power simmering just beneath the surface. […] Everything comes together perfectly around Evans’ heartfelt expressions, like a mother’s arms holding a child, like a painter getting every detail just right. […] She creates as much dramatic feeling as two gunfighters approaching each other with hands over holsters.

Unbound feels like its title suggests. Evans clearly feels free to use whichever technique, genre, and instrument as colors in her palette to achieve the musical experience she seeks. She uses rock’s aggression when she wants her song to have kick. She infuses other songs with jazz inflection to make them move freely. She even relies on flamenco structures to add more snap to her rhythmic thrusts. There is much to enjoy on Evans’ Unbound album, and all of it comes together as a nice, wholesome, fully realized reflection of an artist who knows where she wants to go.

Click here to read the full review.