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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's all gone swimmingly, 12 Mar 2008
Female singer-songwriters are like buses (not necessarily in appearance, you understand, and I'm not naming names): you wait ages and then three turn up at once. We seem to be inundated with them at the moment, and one who deserves the spotlight but isn't getting it so much (because she hasn't been seen shooting her mouth off in public or falling out of nightclubs) is Laura Marling. Her debut "Alas, I Cannot Swim" has also been somewhat overlooked because it is not in a pop/r'n'b idiom and she doesn't sing about, well, falling out of nightclubs. She appears to draw inspiration from an earlier generation of folk-rock singers, the likes of Joni Mitchell, Melanie, Jacqui McShee (of Pentangle), Linda Thompson etc.
The subject matter of her songs is a long way removed from the infatuations of (supposedly) hip urbanites trying to buy tequila at 4.00 a.m. too. Her lyrics sound rooted in the land, influenced more by Thomas Hardy or, in modern terms, Graham Swift than by the usual Camden Town obsessions. For someone who is still a teenager she displays a very mature take on difficult subjects such as parental strife, mental illness, death. God only knows what she might have to say by the time she's twenty-five. This is not to say the album is miserable. It is quite introspective, quite melancholy, but not all sad. "You're No God" and "My Manic and I" have an austere humour and light, lilting style. "Cross Your Fingers" has an almost nursery rhyme feel. And like many nursery rhymes, if you think about it, the words are much darker than the tune. The deft, basic acoustic folk backing is augmented here and there by strings and accordion.
So "Alas, I Cannot Swim" is not a party record. You might not play it getting ready to go out on Saturday night. But you might when you get home at whatever time on Sunday. And sitting at home any time, with a malt whisky, not an alcopop.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Alas, I cannot stop listening to this album...., 17 Feb 2008
The music on Laura Marling's debut album isn't entirely what I expected but, in a different way it's a lot more than I expected. What I thought would be a quiet, subtle, poppy folk album turned out to be a bold, creative, eclectic and incredibly exciting poppy folk album. Considering how youg Laura Marling is, `Alas, I Cannot Swim', has the markings of an artist ten years older.
The lyrics are clever, interesting and at times quite thought provoking. The music is, admittely, secondary to Marling's voice but remains varied and creative enough to superseed that assumption. The focal point though, is indeed her voice. It's fantastic. Nothing more needs saying on the matter.
The majority of the tracks are pleasant, stupidly enjoyable poppy folk tracks; Old Stone, Tap At My Window, The Captain & the Hourglass. But there is the odd curveball thrown in. Ghosts is the opening track and doesn't sound quite like anything else on the album somehow and is definitley a higlight. Cross You Fingers sounds fairly upbeat but boasts the a chorus of; "cross your fingers, hold your toes, we're all gonna die when the building blows." The opening lyric to My Manic & I; "he wants to die in a lake in Geneva, where the mountains can cover the shape of his nose." Unorthodox indeed for a pop record, which intrigues me even more.
Crawled Out of the Sea is the biggest curveball and possibly the most effective; it's a kind folk shanty, complete with accordion and serves to break up the album and is even stated as an "(Interlude)".
It's my view that Marling is strongest when branching out a tad like this; where a natural eschewing of convention needs nurturing. I prefer my music a little darker and when Marling edges over slightly there is a whole lot more depth of meaning which suggests she'll be around a whole lot more in the future.
So, `Alas I Cannot Swim' boasts a very promising young talent and if she can fill an entire album with tracks as strong as the best on here, then she'll be a force to be reckoned with. I know it's only February but this could be my album of the year so far.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Songbox - A Review, 11 Feb 2008
Having read a favourable review of the album in a newspaper I found on the train I placed an order on Amazon. The packaging is amazing - the CD comes in a cardboard sleeve inside a large box that also contains a board game, art postcards, a voucher for a free gig ticket, a pamphlet containing song lyrics, a tiny cardboard sleeve (about the size of a mini-CD sleeve) containing a fold-out series of prints and a large envelope (no, I don't know why).
Anyone old enough to have bought vinyl albums in the past will appreciate the thought that went into the packaging, all of which gives you something to read through and enjoy on the way home before you get to hear the album itself.
The album has been produced to a very high standard and the musicians all play very well. Her voice, gentle and relaxed, sits well in the mix and the music sucks you in and mellows you out. It's twelve tracks long but they're over before you know it. My personal favourite is The Captain and the Hourglass, which I found myself listening to repeatedly once I'd heard the album all the way through.
The singer's voice reminds me very much of Joni Mitchell and, bar a few ill-advised attempts at some high notes, is very easy on the ears. The songs on the album complement each other nicely and on the whole it reminds me of happy summers in the past, drinking gin and tonic in the park and falling asleep under the sun.
All in all a refreshing change from the mass produced pop that all sounds so similar these days. If you like to hear proper music, played on real instruments by talented musicians, then this is definitely for you.
The only downside of buying the Songbox edition is that the box, being roughly the same size as a ring binder, won't fit in a normal CD rack.
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