Laura Marling - i Speak because i can.

i decided to write a review, one because i love this album, but frankly because i need the practice.

Having quietly created one of 2008’s great albums, with the same unpretentious nature Marling now at the grand age of 20 returns with a darker collection of songs which imply she is recollecting on a new found maturity. Attention is likely to be brought to the effect her split from fellow folk up-start Charlie Fink of Noah and the Whale fame has had on the record, but this would be to under value the scope of emotion that Marling is able to create in such simple structures.
Whilst Alas I cannot Swim had its successes in its natural tone of first discovering heart ache and break, here the melancholy is given an urgent passion evoked in the building crescendos of opener Devil’s Spoke that mix raw guitar chords with a whirling atmosphere of banjo’s that only relents to hear Marling crow out from the depths of her heart ‘and I hold your face away from mine’. Maybe that heart break isn’t too far from the surface of some tracks.
The arrangement on Goodbye England has a gentler tone, departing from the rough desperate anger that emerges elsewhere, Marling here is at her most picturesque- like the English countryside she is describing, the melody is quaint and conjures up images of idyllic walks on frosty mornings in mitten gloves. Hope in the Air is a selection of rich piano chords which combine effortlessly with the passion in her voice to give honesty to the yearning that is describing.


Whilst her musical depth may have developed, it is still the delicate touch she has with her song writing that allows much of her seemingly easy brilliance to show. This is a record that tells of experience past her years, both in content and structure, a truly great emerging folk talent.


the dress she is wearing on the cover also reminds me of this beauty i found on the because magazine website the other day. Rick Owens Silk Print Dress. image from because magazine website

The beautiful simplicity of this dress is similar to the beauty of Marling's record, but she probably just beats him there.


Currently Listening to: as well as the above, still XX. i think i need to get a temporary ban from this record, it's unhealthy how many times i have listened to it. it is however, perfect depressed bath music.

Currently Fretting over: what to do with my summer. to go to leeds festival? my 14,15,16,17 and 18 year old selves would hate me right now for not buying a friday day ticket for the libertines. actually, scrap that,my currently 19 year old self hates me for not being in the country for it.