Laura Marling
BIOGRAPHY
The old adage about our big old expanse of globe being a small, small place after all becomes one of the most apposite of almost truisms if applied to the minor world of British popular folk music. Born in the military county of Hampshire, Laura Marling first picked up the guitar at the age of 5, did a few loose tasks here and there, joined the original line-up of Noah and the Whale while being romantically linked with singer/guitarist Charlie Fink, sang backing on their debut album Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, broke up, cried a little, eat some ice cream, pined, moved on, toured with Jamie T after only having played two solo shows, released her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim which was later Mercury Prize nominated, started dating Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons, grew up, gained confidence then released one of the most powerful, affecting break-up albums ever likely to be written by an 18 year old, I Speak Because I Can.
What is most striking about Laura’s sophomore album is her newfound authority, from the first dumb-struck chord of mahogany deep acoustic core you are made sensitively aware that this isn’t to be a relaxed listen, this isn’t to be a laid back strum through the puddle shallow depths of Dawson’s Creek-lite pop-country, her reference points come from much deeper, more fertile ground.
A mere two years ago her relative youth condemned and pigeonholed as “the inheritor of Lily Allen's or Kate Nash's style of kitchen-sink pop” (independent.co.uk), but Marling relies neither on the faux-quirkiness nor the vocal affectations of some of her peers (Marina and the …err…*cough*), while the spare simplicity of her arrangements belies her remarkable versatility. On the aforementioned album opener, Devil’s Spoke she incants her lyrics like a mantra, there is no conversation here. If this is a break-up album, it’s not the faint cry of a lover left behind, but the aggressive, assertive but quietly uttered “no” of a woman who has suffered and decided that she never need do it again.
Both mythic imagery and discomfitingly direct observations come naturally to Marling: she addresses Hera and sings in character as a resentful Penelope (on album titled track “I Speak Because I Can”), then turns around and delivers a lyric as unflinching as, "You'll work your thumbs 'til they're sore/ And you'll work my heart until it's raw”. These themes of femininity are explored in a way that Beyonce popularized with her inimitable lyric – and I’m being serious now, so no laughing please – “If you like it then you should have put a ring on it”, a line that, whether wittingly or not, perfectly summed up the difficulty of a woman’s tri-polar position in society as mother, lover and independent entity. Marling explores a broken relationship with blind rage and biting power, yet still manages to leave the listener with hope and salvation. In capturing a sense of love won and lost, and independence gained and fought for.
“But the love of your life
lives but lies no more
and where she lay
a flower grows.” (“Devil’s Spoke”)
Half shouting for joy, half fighting back the tears. The PJ Harvey and Joni Mitchell comparisons take on more light in the live forum, once so painfully shy she avoided eye contact at gigs, Marling still displays an innocence and fragility on stage, but is now more assured, carrying the power of her delicately barbed voice in her posture.
Marling is a formidable songwriter who, as her new album I Speak Because I Can demonstrates, is only getting better, Marling has fully achieved something magical on her latest album, while it is an intensely personal album, she has also created an immersive, malleable world which is evocative but still allows the listener to push and pull at the walls, to create their own environment.
To this point I’ve tried my hardest to avoid any reference to her age, but I can’t help but make passing comments that such a great, powerful body of work has come from someone with so much more growing up to do. It’s terrifying really to consider what this young woman will be capable of in the next few years to come.
words and thoughts by Samuel Smith
TOUR DATES
13 May 2010 - Blue Flowers NYC @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
14 May 2010 - City Winery New York, NY
15 May 2010 - Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA
16 May 2010 - IOTA Club & Cafe Arlington, VA
18 May 2010 - The Earl E Atlanta, GA
19 May 2010 - 3rd & Lindsley Nashville, TN
21 May 2010 - Warehouse Live Houston, TX
22 May 2010 - Central Presbyterian Church Austin, TX
23 May 2010 - The Loft Dallas, TX
25 May 2010 - Larimer Lounge Denver, CO
26 May 2010 - Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT
27 May 2010 - Neurolux Boise, ID
28 May 2010 - Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR
29 May 2010 - Sasquatch George, WA
3 Jun 2010 - The Guardian Hay Festival Hay On Wye, Hereford, UK
26 Jun 2010 - Glastonbury The Park Stage, UK
1 Jul 2010 - Serpentine Sessions London, Hyde Park, UK
3 Jul 2010 - Hop Farm Festival Tonbridge, Kent, UK
16 Jul 2010 - Latitude Southwold, Suffolk, UK
27 Jul 2010 - Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA
28 Jul 2010 - El Ray Los Angeles, CA
31 Jul 2010 - Splendour in the Grass Festival Woodford, Queensland, Australia
2 Aug 2010 - Metro Theatre Sydney, NSW, Australia
4 Aug 2010 - Hi Fi Bar Melbourne, VIC, Australia
7 Aug 2010 - The Gov Adelaide, SA, Australia
8 Aug 2010 - Capitol Perth, WA, Australia
22 Aug 2010 - Green Man Festival Brecon Beacons, Wales, UK
LINKS
Laura Marling Official site (where you can see her beautifully shot video for the new single ‘Rambling Man’)
Laura Marling on Last.FM
Laura Marling on Myspace
VIDEOS
Laura and Noah (of the whales) on Black Cab Sessions
Laura Marling live on Jools Holland
Laura Marling playing Johnny Flynn’s The Wrote and The Writ
words and thoughts by Samuel Smith