May 6, 2018 - Marika Hackman is a British singer-songwriter who, in 2015, released her debut full length 'We Slept at Last' after having released four EPs:. Marika Hackman - That Iron Taste EP (2013) download links are externally hosted on. We’re an independent, non-profit website that the entire world depends on. Most can’t afford to donate, but we hope you can.
Review Marika Hackman made a very savvy choice when she chose 'Boyfriend' as both the opener and lead single for I'm Not Your Man - savvy because the album makes a pretty seismic shift from the nu-folk of her debut. It's a damn sight noisier for a start, requiring a full band setup.
Handily, she happens to be pals with London-based group the Big Moon, who act as her backing band for the record. Much like the Big Moon's own music, this is decidedly grungier than anything she's produced before. But 'Boyfriend' also boasts an effortlessly catchy hook, and lyrically it's a blast.
Hackman spends the song's running time taunting a nameless 'boyfriend' and stealing his girl's affections: 'I've got your boyfriend on my mind/I think you know she stayed with me last night/I held his world in my hands/I threw it out to see where it would land.' Her sardonic machinations are deliciously entertaining: 'It's fine 'cause I am just a girl/It doesn't count/He knows a woman needs a man to make her shout.' Musically and thematically, she's cast off the watery vagueness of her debut for a more robust sound and unflinching lyricism. Hackman's described the record as being overtly sexual, and it's nowhere more so than on 'Violet.' She's dispensed with ambiguous metaphors for a far more direct, and in turn potent, approach: “I’d like to roll around your tongue/caught like a bicycle spoke/you eat, I’ll grow and grow/swelling up until you choke.” All of which is delivered via her playfully dexterous vocal and a mischievous sense of fun.