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| 26 August 2005 |
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| Wayward Angel: Lene Marlin - Lost In A Moment |
| Source : www.thetrousers.uk |
OK, so suppose that at just 17 years old you had the fastest selling single in Norwegian music history & at 22, you had two platinum albums under your belt. What the hell would you do next?
Well, if you were Lene Marlin, you’d hide yourself away & secretly make an album with top Norwegian production trio StarGate, who have had hits with Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, Texas, Cher & Brandy, among others. What started out as a personal experiment for the now 24-year old quickly morphed into a full album; even her record company did not expect an album until she turned up with the finished article.
So, a short history lesson for those unfamiliar with Lene; back in the mists of 1997, her debut album 'Playing My Game' hit big with a clutch of smash hit singles, going on to sell 1.8 million copies across Europe. Faced with such overwhelming success at a young age, Marlin walked away from the music industry & it was another five years before she felt ready enough to try again. Her second album 'Another Day' was released in 2003, bringing more successin her native land. However, the album received little fan-fare in the UK upon its release & sank without a trace. So what of Ms. Marlin in 2005? Gone are the silly hats & hoodies from her previous videos and in its place comes a gorgeous, mature new look & a grown-up collection of eleven new songs that she describes as 'different moods & flavours, a real personal effort & the best record I have ever made.'
Perhaps she is listening to a different album. 'Lost In A Moment' is no genre-busting feast of musical styles. Like its predecessor, 'Another Day', it is a perfectly pleasant collection with some nice touches that fails to really engage. On the rockier-than-usual opener, 'My Lucky Day', Marlin somehow manages to seem even more disinterested than Avril Lavigne - not a good place to start. Fortunately, things improve quickly; the quietly beautiful 'All I Can Say' is reminiscent of her earlier work & first single 'How Would It Be' is one of the more upbeat numbers. It's a nice jaunty pop song, catchy enough to be sung along to after a few listens & certainly the kind of song to be found playing over the credits in 'Generic Teen Girl Movie 2'. As for the rest? Well, despite the odd highlight ('Never To Know', 'Eyes Closed'), the songs tend to wash right over the listener to the extent that some may even go unnoticed (e.g. 'When You Were Around'). It is a shame because she does have a beautiful voice & the kind of image that should be marketable enough to sell records by the truckload in the UK as well as Norway.
It may be a little soon to say whether Lene Marlin peaked too early in her career with the dizzying pop heights of 'Unforgivable Sinner' & 'Sitting Down Here', but certainly next time it will take more than this competent but rather samey album to blow her public away.
Ian Addison - www.thetrousers.uk
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