Review - Laura Marling

Laura Marling
Once I Was An Eagle

Laura Marling is an artist I've been listening to since her first album came out in 2008, so it feels good to see that she's not only still going, but is more popular than ever, getting good reviews in Mojo and the Guardian for this, her fourth album. She's also one of those musicians who audibly mature over the years. Her first record, Alas I Cannot Swim, was a cracking anti-folk album that managed to pull off the difficult trick of sounding naive, young, unjaded, without ever becoming irrtating or mannered. Since then, her music has moved in a more individual direction, leaving behind the Jeffrey Lewis-esque arrangements in favour of more complex, adult sounds (and I use that term purely in a descriptive way - there's nothing wrong with Jeffrey Lewis). That tendency seems to have reached its apotheosis on Once I Was An Eagle, and the album has a few clues as to where marling might go next. The tunes are circular, decidedly un-pop yet radio-freindly in the best possible way. Her voice no longer has the artlessness of her early work, nor the Joan Baez-like purity of her last two albums; the cigarrettes are taking their toll, but so far the effect is largely beneficial. Marling's vocals are smoky, sexy, like a whispered invitation from a stranger in a smoky room - think Marlene Dietrich meets one of the Unthanks (can't remember which one), with a country edge - Marling has finally slipped into the American accent that hearing-challenged fucktards have been claiming she had since I Speak Because I Can. The almost jazzy arrangements give way to rollicking breakdowns on songs like Master Hunter. The lyrics are alternately oblique and bluntly confessional, and the outro to each song blends seamlessly into the intro of the next - this feels like a fully-formed album, rather than a collection of songs. Marling sounds much more well-travelled on this record - she's been around, lived a little and her songs are decidedly mature.

Altogether, this is a truly beautiful album by an artist at the height of her powers. If I had to make a criticism, it would be that there are too many love songs - she could do with broadening her subject matter a little. Still, Once I Was An Eagle is one of the best albums I've heard this year.

Rating: 9/10