Marina Diamandis is no stranger to poignant-but-kitschy glam-pop. She’s slowly been popularizing it since 2012 as Marina and the Diamonds. Her second album, Electra Heart, skyrocketed her to cult success. Performing as the album’s titular character, she made intricately orchestrated concept videos to her bubblegum synth-pop songs. Diamandis (she just goes by MARINA now) turned away from absurdist caricature and into the realm of serious emotional and political commentary on 2015’s Froot and has never looked back, with her success skyrocketing even higher. That continues, sort of, on Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land.

Her fifth studio album is a pop-laden meditation on the sad state of the world in a way that’s sometimes so catchy that you’ll forget how dark the lyrics truly are.

Diamandis’ songwriting and music-making style hasn’t changed much over the years, so fans of Electra Heart will notice similar sounds in the orchestration of her songs like synths and pianos, programmed percussion and not much guitar. While her songs don’t sound the same, she definitely has a very specific sound, one that’s matured over the years yet kept some of its luster and charming simplicity.

The four singles released prior to the album encompass most of the upbeat portion of the album, which speaks perhaps to the tone of Marina Diamandis’ mood as she composed the album. For the most part, even if a song’s tempo is peppy, the lyrics are far from it, and Diamandis uses her synth-pop vehicles to transport topics from feminist ideology to commentary on climate change or lamentations on love lost.

The two exceptions are the title track and “Venus Fly Trap,” which inspire a little more feminine empowerment. On the latter, Diamandis tells us that she’s “Got the beauty, got the brains, got the power, got the reigns,” and you can too. On “in a Modern Land,” she instructs listeners, “You don’t have to be like everybody else, you don’t have to fit into the norm, you are not here to conform.” Coated in electro-pop production, with airy melodies sung in Diamandis’ sweet and rich soprano, these songs provide a welcome escape from the album’s general despondent, angry tone.

With more positive songs fewer and further apart, the album is comprised mostly of slow, sad songs about faded relationships and songs with political commentary. Diamandis, a proud feminist, LGBTQ+ supporter, and climate change activist, ironically provides some wokeness on Ancient Dreams with “Man’s World,” where she explicitly details how the Sultan of Brunei purchased the Beverly Hills hotel, the “campest hotel in L.A.,” only to have overseen the slaughtering of homosexuals in his own country.

“Purge the Poison” is is also heavy on feminist imagery, and very forthrightly regales audiences with facts about underrepresentation of women in government. The Welsh singer’s final hot take is a bouncy little number called “New America,” where she mentions that Americans have “blood on their hands ’cause they stole all the land,” among other bluntly literal lyrics. In the case of another artist, these songs would seem ludicrous and pat. But Diamandis’ style doesn’t detract from the enjoyability.

The remainder of MARINA’s album tips from frustration into sadness, and channels the miscommunications and misunderstandings of heartbreak. More poignant, subtle and passionate, these songs contrast with the over-the-top flavors in the rest of the album, and give depth and dimension to Diamandis’ obvious struggles with the world at large, her understanding of herself and the dissolution of relationships.

“Flowers,” “Goodbye,” “I Love You But I Love Me More” and “Pandora’s Box” are all examples of this melancholy, melodic vibe, still accentuated with fresh synth-pop arrangements and authentically sad lyrics. Almost like the vermouth in a martini, these songs provide just the right amount of bittersweetness to the potent and shocking taste of Diamandis’ more political ballads.

Follow writer Sara London at Facebook.com/slondogbusiness and Twitter.com/sjessielondon.