Tag: Mariette

Mariette – Time To Spare

HRRRRRRRRNK

Tim: Remember that HRRRRNNK noise that was in all the film trailers for what seemed like decades after Inception used it, but eventually fell out of fashion appeared this morning, twice, in the trailer for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part?

Tom: Yep, I remember that after a while it got really irri-HRRRRRRRNK

Tim: Well you’ll be pleased to know that Mariette’s trying to bring it back.

Tom: HRRRRRRRRNK

Tim: And actually it doesn’t sound too weird or out of place, bringing with it as substantial stylistic change to the sound, from calm and comparatively quiet to big and brash and really quite noisy.

Tom: Yep, I’m actually kind of surprised by it: I liked the verse going into it, I liked the pre-chorus that it heralded, and somehow this all seems to wo-HRRRRRRRRRNK

Tim: It’s curious – normally, this would really put me off a bit, with the sounds involved and the vocal samples all over the place, and the aaaah-ah-ah-ahh that’s irritatingly reminiscent of Shakira. Here, though, it all seems to work for me, and I quite like it.

Tom: Sure. I’m not immediately going to download and listen to it endlessly, but I wouldn’t object if this came on the radiHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNK

Tim: Going with that, are you?

Tom: Incidentally, yes, this joke isn’t getting old for me.

Tim: Fair enough. Good song though, but let’s make sure Hans Zimmer never hears it, yeah?

Mariette – The Next Generation Calls

“I’m tempted to call this a bit of a waste.”

Tom: “Hello? Oh, hi Captain Picard, how’s it going?” No?

Tim: No. Instead, Tom, we have a Song With A Message. It a companion song to the Children’s Climate Conference, which is apparently a thing, where kids who don’t have faith in the grown-ups in Paris next month are going “to have their own climate conference, and put pressure on the world’s adults.” Yep.

Tom: Or in other words, do absolutely nothing but get some good PR for someone and have something on the CV.

Tim: Yeah, sounds about right Also, advance warning for you: kids backing choir in the chorus.

Tim: And the thing is, regardless of how sickening (albeit theoretically admirable) that intro spiel was: I quite like this song. Take away the kids, alter the lyrics so they’re not so patronising, and we could really have a decent tune on our hands.

Tom: Hmm. There are some interesting bits in there (that glissando on “calls”, for one). Yep, given a bit of a makeover, perhaps this could be OK.

Tim: I’m tempted, then, to call this a bit of a waste. Sure, a charity single is worthwhile and all that, but when a song has so much potential but is dragged down by self-imposed necessities, it’s a real shame.

Tom: And by a kids’ choir. Seriously, there’s no need.

Mariette – If Only I Can

“A piano, some lovely ahh-ing and is that an accordion in the background?”

Tim: Mariette’s been through several names in her time; originally as Maryjet, then Mariette Hansson in Swedish Idol 2009, and now plain Mariette, a name which bring with it a lovely piano ballad.

Tim: As we all know too well, piano ballads especially have a potency to be entirely dull and dreary. This, fortunately, stays well away from that, because that chorus is very big, given that we only have a piano, some lovely ahh-ing and is that an accordion in the background?

Tom: I think so? It’s certainly accordion-esque. I wouldn’t put the chorus as “very big”, but it’s certainly emotive, and in a ballad like that, this is what counts.

Tim: It’s rather slow, even for a ballad, but that strangely doesn’t work against it – while there’s no time for a middle eight or closing section, it still feels like a fully fleshed out song. Which is good, because that’s exactly what it is – a lovely tune that’s gentle yet still full of emotion and feeling. Not an easy thing to do.