Only one year after their debut album “Small” Marina & The Kats, the smallest big band in the world, were back in the studio. This time it even became a vinyl double album. “Wild” is the name of the second prank. 16 new titles find room on it (13 on the CD edition).

Marina and her cats have remained true to their style and their motto SWING SWING SWING. But thanks to over 100 concerts, they delve even deeper into the hot, driving sound of the juke joints and ballrooms. Groovy gypsy guitars, light-footed melodies, airy Beserlgrooves and Marina’s uniquely charming voice merge into a wistfully nostalgic cocktail which you can enjoy at breakfast in the morning and in the dance café in the evening, and which will instinctively put a smile on your face.

While Marina on “Small” still talks about how life is when you’ve grown a little smaller, on “Wild” she shows us that behind the sweet, innocent façade lurks a rascal who’s a real rascal behind the ears. In “Easy Does It” she puzzles about why everyone is running to work early in the morning, while she just returns home from a boisterous dance evening, is happy to play other pranks in “Bamboozle Boogie”, quarrels with her lover in the bluesy “Miss Jekyll & Mister Hyde” and tries to distract from all the things she has done (“Wild”) with a sugar-sweet innocent face.

Marina is just a girl who wears the pants and in the researchy “Treat Me Nice!” she makes it clear how a man has to treat a woman. She knows how to help herself to get to the sweets on the top shelf and dances the seductive Cha Cha of a femme fatale (“Sweets On The Top Shelf”).

Nevertheless, she sometimes dreams of quieter times, like on the, spiced with rapid vibraphone runs, “Moon On The Hill”, or worries about transience (“Forever Young”). She makes declarations of love to coffee (the heart-warming “C O F F E E”), or her hometown (“I Fell For You”), tries to seduce with recipes (“Superb”), or simply wants to dance until her feet glow (“Shim Sham”).

The album is rounded off by two cover versions. Guns N’ Rose’s classic “Paradise City” and “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine”, which once featured the unforgettable Anita O’Day together with Stan Kenton.

The necessary spice is provided by Raphael Wressnig (hammond organ), Berndt Luef (vibraphone), Herb Berger (reeds), Georg Schrattenholzer (trombone), Christian Bakanic (accordion), Jörg Haberl (percussion) and Klemens Bittmann (strings) as guests.

Thus Marina & Kats take off on a dreamy journey into the time of the Django Reinhardts and Cab Calloways, the Divas and Crooners, the Lindy Hop and Collegiate Shags, the Radio Shows and Revue Theatres, the Mirós and Picassos, the Peek-A-Boo’s and Victory Rolls, the Buick Rivieras and Cadillac Convertibles between the dimly lit Cotton Club Harlems and the sun-drenched palm trees of Santa Monica and yet always lands gently in the here and now.