Laura Marling I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)
5/5
By: Hayley Leaver
Laura Marling is an artist doomed to face countless youth-emisms and patronising ‘old before her years’ descriptions until, well, until she’s old enough to qualify for a free bus pass, so it seems. Having released a Mercury Prize-nominated album at the age of eighteen, collaborating with a number of incredible artists old enough to be her respective mother/father, and as of yet managing to retain critical respect and an air of down to earth calm, she makes the rest of us look rather lazy. At the start of 2010, it looked as though this year was going to be known for her transformation from ghostly blonde to responsible brunette, but despite the shock ‘do change she has simultaneously managed to release a sophomore album thus far leading the race for album of the year.
According to Marling herself, the album deals with the idea of responsibility, and particularly womanhood. I Speak Because I Can is an obvious transgression from the beautifully sweet Alas I Cannot Swim – undoubtedly one of the best albums to come out of Britain in the last two years – with the same themes of love, heartache, and strife weaving through the poetic tales. However, while the idea of this album being a representation of maturing could undermine Marling’s debut - her songs have always told wise tales of joy and misery – there is undoubtedly a growth, a seasoned progression from songs such as the doubting ‘My Manic and I’ from her first album.
Opening track, ‘Devil’s Spoke’ stands firm as a start to an album unafraid to speak up; “Have you come here to rescue me?” Marling demands, building up to a chorus of tribal proportions. However, the daintily wistful voice remains, uncomplicated and untainted – a relief for an album riding on such high expectations after the first. ‘Rambling Man’ is certainly not far removed from Alas, I Cannot Swim, but the confidence of an accomplished woman strides throughout it. ‘Blackberry Stone’ stands out as a melancholy highlight; “I’d be sad that I never held your hand as you were lowered” rings some bells as perhaps a reference to Laura’s Noah and the Whale days, but I Speak Because I Can is miles away from that with its flawless passion. The concept of heartbreak and moving on cannot be ignored; from any number of feminine roles – daughter, maid, wife – the album accepts that it’ll probably end in tears, but hey, you’ll get over it.
Marling seems to sum up I Speak Because I Can with her words, “I believe we are meant to be seen, and not to be understood”: a testimony to the women she sings of, but also to the complexity with which the album teems. I Speak Because I Can gives away something different upon each listening, something impossible to decipher but easy to swallow as a stunning effort from a young woman refusing to submit to any notion of subservient muse.
Artists in this article: Laura Marling
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