Thursday, April 8, 2010

Laura Marling - "I Speak Because I Can" (8.8 out of 10)

She is all of 21 years old. This is her 2nd cd. I liked the first one. This is a classic.
Far better than anything Joni Mitchell could have conceived of at this age (or any age as far as I'm concerned), Laura Marling's "I Speak Because I Can" runs the potential danger of being too subdued and acoustic for its own good, but the danger is completely abated because the song-writing here is so strong, mature, passionate and hauntingly lovely. In a similar way to Joanna Newsome, Marling appears to have been channeled to us from another planet as a gift...we'll just call Marling a 1st cousin for now. The 2 highlights for me are "Rambling Man" and "Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)," the former steering away from the all-acoustic feel with an explosion of a chorus. If she never puts another cd out, she has cemented her worth as a true artist.

1 comment:

  1. i almost never say this, but her studio albums do not do her justice. she was fantastic live--she performs with a passion that is lacking on her albums, er first album...i'm downloading the 2nd now.

    ReplyDelete