Laura Marling: Alas I Cannot Swim
Laura Marling's debut shows wisdom beyond her years.
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Friday, 08, Feb 2008 04:21
Virgin Records, out February 11th.
In a nutshell...
Folky, majestic, confident, agile, compassionate.
What's it all about?
Alas I Cannot Swim is the debut album from one of Britain's most exciting new talents. Twelve diverse tracks showcase Marling's versatile vocals and show little fear of leaving them exposed, while gentle acoustic guitar is the album's mainstay and folky string arrangements add new dimensions as songs develop. Released as a single, opening track Ghosts has already given listeners a taste of a confident record.
To watch the video for Ghosts on inthenews.co.uk, click here
Who's it by?
Laura Marling is a 17-year-old debutant from Reading who developed her talents with folk talent quintet Noah and the Whale before moving into solo recording. Alas I Cannot Swim follows hot on the heels of two EP releases, London Town and My Manic & I. On the latter was New Romantic, which Marling performed on Jools Holland and has gained acclaim for - but decided not to inlude on the full-length album. Expectation has built up around the release of her debut record after a recent Soho gig brought out her maverick side: as a minor she was refused entry to her own gig and instead played a confident set out on the street.
As an example...
"He used to be a singer in a rock and roll band/He would write the songs and I'd tremble at his hand/But alas/He lost poetic ethic and his songs were pathetic/He's a failure now." - Failure
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
A strong contender for debut recognition: Marling's inventive playfulness with genre will go down well, while her faultless and agile vocals will not go unnoticed.
What the others say
"There's a gentle darkness to Laura Marling's songs that doesn't appear anywhere else at the present moment in music." - Independent
"[Ghosts] is a lovely, twinkly and twee piece of folky pop that wouldn't be able to offend a morally-outraged nun." - NME
So is it any good?
Much of the album unravels a sense of time-honoured lyrical wisdom and musical maturity that defy Marling's 17 years. Ghosts appears to be a formulaic modern anti-love song, as the verse's jerky and casual vocals tell a story of feckless masculinity. But Marling suddently - and confidently - relaxes the tempo for an unexpected chorus whose delicate harmonies achieve gospel-style serenity. And track four in its entirety is another surprise: country lament Failure is both catchy and poignant, with Marling's agile vocal slides and majestic vibrato recalling Joan Baez or Joni Mitchell. Love disillusionment and jaded advice are dispensed in time-honoured folky form, but like in Ghosts, the motivation does not seem to be genre-busting horseplay or a self-satisfied retro parody. Instead she effortlessly modernises the genre with coherent, universal lyrics ("Don't cry child/You've got so much more to live for") - and rarely for a modern British artist, there are no attempts to aggressively imprint her time, place and identity on the song.
A mention of Shepherd's Bush Green in Night Terror is a rare moment of specificity - elsewhere songs are led by a sense of transcending compassion and the resolution of vocal descents into a generic warmer place. Old Stone patiently evolves from the icy solitude of the verse into the warmth of the chorus' unremitting rhythm and rich harmonies - and its forgiving lyrics redeem all those who stubbornly fail to change. You're No God and Cross Your Fingers energise the album's middle order and show a lightness of touch that is very listenable.
The weak points come when the vocals plough their own furrow and the structure around them is removed: in Tap At My Window, Crawled out of the Sea and Shine the album starts to lose direction.
But overall Laura Marling's debut holds massive promise.
8/10
Nick Jacobs
"This album was cleverly put together. The lyrics and music are magic. This young talent will go a long way in the music business and lucky to do so at her age... " - Lisa Bangles