Label Number: 7243 8 47633 2 9
© 1999 Virgin
Review by Pop Rescue.com
Today’s POP RESCUE from a loveless fate, is the 1999 debut album
Playing My Game from Norwegian singer and songwriter
Lene Marlin. Does this album sound like a lot of fun, or like a boring game of snap? Read on…
I was aware of this album when it was brand new, as many friends
harked about it, and were surprised that it wasn’t in my collection. So,
stumbling across it, I thought I better find out what’s so great about
it… albeit 16 years later.
The album opens with the big hit
Sitting Down Here which
is a gentle acoustic guitar meandering. Straight away, I’m reminded of
how by 1999 we’d found Alanis Morrisette, Natalie Imbruglia and The
Corrs, and Lene Marlin fits right in amongst these acts. This song is
catchy, it feels summery and light. The guitars are delicate, and the
bass line gently prods it along.
The title track is up next –
Playing My Game. This
is a slow ballad, again with guitar, but this is joined by some soft
dreamy synth pad sounds that sound like they’ve been borrowed from
William Orbit and his Ray Of Light album with Madonna. This track allows
Lene to show off her rich vocals, although they don’t really have much
of a chance to show off a range here.
Intricate guitar opens debut single
Unforgivable Sinner,
which was a moderate #13 hit single in the UK. This one definitely fits
in with the likes of Imbruglia’s hit Torn. It has plenty of acoustic
strumming, but also plenty of ‘go’ in it too. It’s up-beat, catchy, and
deserved to be a bigger hit than it was.
Flown Away is next, and this song whilst
inoffensive, just sounds quite dull, probably because it is so slow. It
feels like something that even
Enya might have passed over, and the lyrics are slightly cringeworthy.
The is followed by
The Way We Are, which returns the
pace – opening with a nice guitar loop. Lene’s vocals dance gently over
this intro as the beats and bass come in. This is a great contrast to
the previous track and probably should have been a single.
Growling guitars burst in next track
So I See, and
this song is much stronger. The guitars stick around, joined by piano,
and some synth strings. Musically this is a really good song, but
vocally, Lene feels somewhat lost here, and like she’s struggling a
little to be heard during the chorus. She’s fine during the verses. This
song is where she most sounds like Alanis.
Maybe I’ll Go returns us back to mellow again,
pitching her against bass and piano, whilst some gentle synthscapes
evolve in the background like a Casio Choir, occasionally joined by
someone turning a rain stick. Lene’s vocals are rich and warm here, and
simple.
Up next is
Where I’m Headed,
which picks the pace up again, but this does sound quite a bit like hit
Sitting Round Here. It has a nice intro that fades in, leading you into
a warm, acoustic guitar-led song. Lene makes easy work of the lyrics
here. This was the third and final UK single, which reached #31, and was
taken from the soundtrack of
Mauvaises Fréquentations (1999).
Penultimate track
One Year Ago is a gentle wafting
song, again laden with acoustic guitars. By the time of the chorus, some
drifting electric guitars join in just to help pull it all together and
make it at least somewhat memorable. This is quite a nice song over
all.
The album closes with the tinkling piano of
A Place Nearby,
but whilst it’s a nice little ballad with lots of space for both the
bass, piano, and Lene’s vocals to shine, the lyrics do feel a bit like a
teenage girl singing.
Over all, this album would have been perfectly fitting for the late
90s chart, amongst the ranks of Alanis, Natalie Imbruglia, and perhaps
even
Dido.
Aside from two of the singles (Sitting Round Here, Unforgivable
Sinner), The Way We Are is the other gem on this album. The rest of the
songs, whilst nice enough in a Dido way, aren’t particularly memorable
tags: lene marlin, playing my game, 1999, flac,
