Fable Electric hovers in that hazy space between deep sleep and near-consciousness. Like the haunting dreams which surrounds the characters in The Tempest, the debut album from London quartet Marine is spectral, yet wise and controlled in its approach. As a concept, Fable Electric re-tells mythological stories of old through the mouthpiece of 21st century musicians with access to guitar pedals and handfuls of grit.

Opener Sirens sways with an age-old sensuality, at first charming and then all at once dark and stormy, just apt for a tale of seductive creatures who lure sailors to their death amongst the waves. The sirens’ temptation is their song, and Marine’s re-telling seduces just the same. Together, lead vocalists Cara Sebastian and Ruby Jack attack vocals with the richness of Nadine Shah and the operatic magic of Kate Bush. There’s a formidable ache to their voices when they both sing at once. “Creature made of stalagmite/ You took the form of glass that night,” they sing on Mount Olympus, amongst whispered chants.

On earlier recordings of the burgeoning Anima, Sebastian and Jack sing “We are made of stronger stuff than you.” On Fable Electric, the second repetition of this phrase ends with “books,” not “you,” as Marine begin to resist the tenacity of the tales they tell. Still, they end the phrase as they always have done: “We are made of stronger stuff, and in our dreams we conquer you.” Marine won’t let up on the power of dreaming as a means of embracing influence, no matter the tempest that falls upon them.

Ellen Peirson-Hagger