In their initial burst of publicity, Marion's bleak lyrics, driving sound, prominent bass, and Manchester home brought comparisons, somewhat exaggerated, to Joy Division. "Sleep," their gripping London debut, had a racing heart and, in the harmonica, a stylistic nod to 60s classics. The desperate feel of "Sleep," and its dark b-side, "Father's Day," earned the band immediate attention, and their emotional writing, quite at odds with the studied eccentricity and intellectualism of bigger bands like Blur, Menswear, or Pulp, gave them a directness that has remained through their subsequent releases.
"Toys for Boys," Marion's next European single, lacked the inescapable hook of "Sleep," but continued the sharp, detailed guitar work and emotional approach. The third London release, "Let's All Go Together," marked a new stage in Marion's growth. The tempo slowed and the guitars became more open, lacey, and less cutting; an anthemic chorus assumed a central role.
With "Let's All Go Together," a better comparison than Joy Division started to emerge: the passionate immediacy and gasping spitfire delivery of early U2. Aside from the striking but unintentional vocal similarity, the earnestness and unabashed sentimentality of Marion's songs also present corollaries to songs on Boy, October, and War.
The newly released "Time," the third European single from This World This Body, is once again reminiscent of seminal U2 songs, but the lyrics and music are more complex and less maudlin than "Let's All Go Together." As U2 can attest, having eventually rejected the style, writing based on emotion has as a downside a tendency towards melodrama and self- parody, particularly when the musical backdrop is slowed to accomodate the pathos evoked by the lyrics. But on "Time," Marion manage to sidestep this pitfall as U2 frequently did on early albums.
The b-side of "Time," like that of "Let's All Go Together," returns to the fast riffing of "Sleep" and "Toys for Boys," but now that the image of U2 has been established, it is easy to remember that U2 had punky roots, too.
This World This Body is one of the most interesting releases of the Britpop era, if for no other reason than in Marion we have an English pop band not afraid to lay itself bare, to take off its party mask and reveal a wide range of deeply-rooted human emotion. The few sombre songs by big contemporary bands, ie. Oasis' "Wonderwall", are really about redemption or epiphany, and offer an uplifting resolution. Even morose bands like Gene camoflauge gut feeling with elaborate language and poetic imagery. Marion bring a note of dissent to the Britpop party, and by exhibiting some naked working class misery they make the whole scene broader in scope and ambition.
