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45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Laura Marling - On a beguiling and timeless second album a star is born, 16 Mar 2010
This review is from: I Speak Because I Can (Eco-pack) (Audio CD)
Laura Marling carries a huge weight on her young shoulders, She is still only 20 and yet following an astonishing debut album and a clutch of singles not least of all the brilliant "New Romantic" which she deliberately choose to leave off "Alas I cannot swim" the expectation around this second album is huge. In addition her personal life has become a factor (like it or not). The very public outpouring of heartbreak angst from her ex Charlie Fink of Noah and the Whale on "The First days of spring" has sealed this. Oh and just for good measure her very close chums in the album's backing band Mumford and Sons are currently as popular as Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford.
What makes her so special? The answers are vulnerability, versatility and voice. This sophomore album displays all these qualities in good measure. It is an incredibly mature set of songs containing a number of latent classics and potentially the best female voice I have heard since the young Joni Mitchell. Sorry if you think this hyperbole but with talent like this why be measured?
Having listened to this album constantly on repeat since the Times kindly streamed it (and be assured the Amazon order is in) it confirms an enormous step forward and not least since she has avoided the obvious rerun of her debut and some of its more commercial elements. The above paper has called it a "very British album - think snow-covered England, blackberries and cold noses". This description goes someway to capturing its atmospherics of folk rock but not the lyrical depth and breadth which many of her contemporaries lack.
Overall what is noticeable are the many echoes of Dylan on this album. The powerful opener "Devils spoke" has that driving acoustic propulsion and lyrical flow that underpinned "It's alright ma (I'm only bleeding)". It is a bracing and exuberant start. A later powerful song "Hope in the air" reeks of Dylan era "Bringing it back home". "Made by Maid" a gentle ballad could be a riposte to Neil Young's "Man needs a Maid" and then we are into one of the real highlights "Rambling Man". Here the resonances of the Joni Mitchell from the era of "Court and Spark" kicks in. The vocal is stunning and the song charts her vulnerability when she sings
"Beaten, battered, and cold
my children will live just to grow old
but if i sit here and weep
I'll be blown over by the slightest of breeze"
The excellent "Blackberry stone" is an older song which many will have already heard. It has a swooning violin in the background and is first rate. It is followed by an matchless highlight "Alpha Shadows" a song of controlled fury and power which does have a strong Mumford's feel about it. Then comes the utterly gorgeous Goodbye England (covered in snow) forever destined to be a wintry Christmas classic. You really must have a heart of stone not to adore this and it's the one song closest to the sprit of her debut. The three remaining songs are the poignant confessional "What he wrote" where she candidly admits "I miss his smell"; the gossamer light gentility and steady growing exuberance of "Darkness Descends" and epic searing closer "I speak because I can"
Laura Marling has recorded a beguiling and timeless second album and the transition from a teenager to a major artist has been achieved in three short years. Who knows what she can deliver in the future but here we have singer where emerging comparisons to singers like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell are already possible and where perhaps we should worry less about her private life and more about her mercurial talent.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Speak Because I Can, 25 Mar 2010
This review is from: I Speak Because I Can (Eco-pack) (Audio CD)
Laura Marling's second album takes its groundings in her first and expands, improves and revises all of the things that made the last so good. It is a beguiling, bewitching album - good on first listen, but definitely a grower, getting better with each listen. Ethan Johns (of Ryan Adams and Ray LaMontagne fame, amongst others) was at the helm for production, and he has really drawn out the best of Laura. The album sounds fantastic.
The songs on here are more mature, as if Laura has really grown into the songwriter she aspired to be on 'Alas, I Cannot Swim'. Several of the songs have a very Dylan-esque feel to them in the way she delivers the lyrics and spins a story. The subject of the songs are somewhat ambiguous, yet this only makes them more appealing, songs for everyman. It is a darker album than the first too, playing well on dynamics and instrumentation. Songs build slowly, eventually reaching a crescendo in the climax. 'Hope in the Air' is a good example, starting with a quiet guitar, before a bass-y piano is introduced, then banjo, drums, another guitar, all with increasing ferocity and volume. Again, Mumford & Sons act as backing band (Marcus can often be heard providing backing vocals), and the influence is particularly evident in this production style. There is more energy in the performances, more assurance in the delivery of the lyrics. It is a very English album in its feel, with the exceptions of 'Devil's Spoke' and the title track (which are slightly Eastern-tinged, inspired perhaps by her recent trip to India with Mumford). This is especially evoked on 'Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)', but there is a wintry ambience throughout, as if Laura intended the album to be heard in solitude, with headphones on.
Overall, I cannot find fault with the album. It is excellent, a step forward from her debut. Laura sounds more assured, more confident in her abilities as a songwriter; you can hear it in her voice and delivery. The album is a beautiful collection of songs, each brilliant in its own right. 'Rambling Man' and 'Darkness Descends' are catchy examples of great folk-rock, while the ballads are exceptional. My only issue - and it is a slight one - is that 'Alpha Shallows' and 'Blackberry Stone' were released as b-sides previously. With another album rumoured for release later this year, I can only hope that she keeps writing songs of a similar quality.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I think she's learned to swim, 14 Mar 2010
This review is from: I Speak Because I Can (Eco-pack) (Audio CD)
Her previous album was good; this is better. I liked her old-fashioned alternating bass guitar style on the previous album, but it got a bit "samey". On this one she still uses it, but the other instrumentation lifts the backings; there's also some powerful strumming. The songs are excellent, particularly "Rambling Man", "What he wrote" and the title track. She has matured, grown in confidence and the writing and arrangments are more sophisticated. She sings well, writes well, with intelligent and poetic lyrics, and has produced a cracking album here. We currently have some really good female singer-songwriters in this country and she's up with the best, so far. It is no reflection on Laura Marling, but some of the crits are seriously over the top. "The new Joni Mitchell...", "The new Bob Dylan..." are both really silly epithets. Indeed, time will tell if she's as good as Thea Gilmore and they don't seem to be falling over themselves to gush about Thea. It's a funny business - make a couple of good albums and you evolve into either 'the new sensation' or 'a best-kept secret'. Still, being a best-kept secret doesn't seem to have done Richard Thompson any harm. So, I reckon that Laura's second album is excellent; buy it and you won't be disappointed, but "the new Bob Dylan"? I really hope not for Laura's sake.
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