Band : Laura Marling
Album title : A Creature I Don't Know
Label : Cooperative Music
Distributor : V2 Benelux
Release date : 19/09/2011
Release : CD

Hampshire (England) born Laura Marling was only 16 when she moved to London to become part of the Nu-Folk scene there. She was one of the founding members of Noah And The Whale, was romantically linked to their lead singer Charlie Fink, and is credited as backing singer on the band's August 2008 released debut album Peacefully, The World Lays Me Down.

Following the release of smaller singles and EPs, she released her debut full-length Alas, I Cannot Swim only a couple of days after she'd turned 18 in February 2008. In her own words, “The album was about being between 18 and 19; about love”! It was also heavily influenced by Fink, whom kinda put a stamp on it. Second album I Speak Because I Can, released March 2010, was about coming of age, dealing with “responsibility, particularly the responsibility of womanhood”. Produced by Ethan Johns (whom surely put his own stamp on the album), the music on the album was particularly influenced by her touring band at the time, and a couple of songs were strongly geared towards Mumford & Sons, mainly due to the fact that Marcus Mumford provided the album with backing vocals. Both albums were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

For her third album, Marling decided to step away from outer influences, and do her own thing. She started writing and demoing the material on her own, as well as working out the vocal arrangements, before she played anything to her band and producer. This way, she'd put her stamp on the material, before anybody else had a chance to do that. As a result, the music is quite fresh and lively. Lyrically, the song “Salinas” was inspired by a book about John Steinbeck, and “Sophia” was written under the influence of Robertson Davies' novel The Rebel Angels. The other main topics are “...love, rage, desire, family, devils, angels, devotion, betrayal, and the roles women play...”.

Musically, what you get is a lot of acoustics (only “The Beast” features an electric guitar), and a general gearing towards Folk and Pop (on a somewhat equal basis). Some songs certainly have a PJ Harvey feel (thanks to catchy melodies and also due to Marling's vocal signature), but there's indeed also a Joni Mitchell kindness (sorry, I read Marling being likened to that artist, and I rather agree). So far, the album has sold over 60,000 copies, which is good enough for a Silver certificate. To hear some music off the new album, log onto the”Film” section at (www.) lauramarling.com, where you can see an animated clip to “Sophia”, and listen to album opener “The Muse” (also interesting is a 9-minute short film on the album). For older material, check the info page at (www.) facebook.com/lauramarling. Ooh...trivia? The special edition of the album (CD+DVD) was limited to 3,000 copies. The album was also released on picture disc LP.

80/100

Tony.