"Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" is a song written and recorded by Welsh singer-songwriter

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

for her fifth studio album of the same name (2021). It was released as the album's third single on 19 May 2021, through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, premiering alongside the announcement of a

livestreaming Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

concert titled Ancient Dreams: Live from the Desert. The song is a pop rock,

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

, and

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

track with a glam rock type beat, and was produced by Marina and James Flannigan. Critics called it reminiscent of

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

' 2008 single " Womanizer". An accompanying VHS-inspired music video debuted the day of the song's release.

Background and release

In January 2020,

announced that she had begun work on her fifth studio album, the follow-up to '' Love + Fear'' (2019). The first single for the project, " Man's World", was released in November following a lengthy delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She followed with second single " Purge the Poison" in April 2021, and revealed the title of the album, ''

Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land ''Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land'' is the fifth studio album by Welsh singer-songwriter Marina and her last under a major label. The album was released on 11 June 2021 through Atlantic Records. She began writing music for the record in August 2 ...

'', and its track listing. Additionally, she announced that she would release two more singles, in support of the album, within a month. "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" serves as the album's third single. James Flannigan produced the song with Marina, who is credited as the sole songwriter. Marina first teased a snippet of the title track on 11 May 2021 via her Twitter account. It was officially released on 19 May 2021 for digital download and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

, through

. On that same day in the US, the song was bundled with previous singles "Man's World" and "Purge the Poison"" as part of a digital extended play on Spotify. The song's premiere coincided with the announcement of a

concert, Ancient Dreams: Live from the Desert, scheduled to be broadcast on 12–13 June 2021.

Composition and lyrics

"Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" is a pop rock,

, and

song with a glam rock style beat. It is backed by drums and a "cinematic guitar riff". Danielle Chelosky from ''

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'' opined that the song has the same energy of

' " Womanizer" (2008) and previous single, "Purge the Poison". She also referred to it as Marina's possible return to the "idiosyncratic, internet-influenced anthems that populated Tumblr for years". Similarly, Vicky Greer from ''

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'' described the song's sound as Marina's return "to the intoxicating

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

of the late '00s, with a much more modern message." '' The Arts Desk''s Thomas H. Green described it as "an electro-glam-pop stomper" that is, musically, reminiscent of both "Womanizer" and Goldfrapp's 2003 single " Strict Machine". According to Tristan Kinnett from Mxdwn, the song's lyrics find Marina envisioning "the possibility of leaving her Earthly form behind her". She sings the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

("I am not my body, not my mind or my brain / Not my thoughts or feelings, I am not my DNA") in a high-pitched vibrato.

Critical reception

Chelosky provided a positive review of "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land", predicting that it will mark Marina's return "to possessing an interesting image that imbues the music with personality". Abigail Firth, of ''

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'', called the song "one of her most unabashedly fun and vibrant" releases, and felt it recalled the sound of her debut album, '' The Family Jewels'' (2010). A contributor to Contactmusic.com called the song equally as strong as both "Man's World" and "Purge the Poison".

Music video

The music video to "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land", referred to as the song's "visual", was released on 19 May 2021. Damian Jones from '' NME'' called the video " VHS-inspired", while the Contactmusic.com contributor described it as "retro, semi-psychedelic, Barbarella meets Bond".

Track listings

Release history

References

{{Marina Diamandis 2021 singles 2021 songs Atlantic Records singles British disco songs Electropop songs British pop rock songs Marina Diamandis songs Songs written by Marina Diamandis