Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim

Laura Marling’s freshness does not lie in any dramatic difference from what has come before: she sings love songs, with a musical foreground of rhythm guitar & string-section joined by strong country influences, well-trod ground for a singer-songwriter. Instead, it comes from the sure-footedness with which she walks it.

Every song is compact, clever, and well-integrated into the album as a whole: instead of having peaks & troughs, the music comes complete. There is no wasted time here, which is so often a feature of lesser artists: notes are held as long as they need to be, not quavered off into oblivion, & instrumental fills are short & add to a song’s flow rather than breaking it. No song is over 4 minutes, & half are under 3. Yet they pack an emotional punch, for all that: both complex & simple attempts to describe the difficulties that keep us from each other & the ways to bandage the wounds they cause, with some wicked humour on the side ("Well I sold my soul to jesus & since then I’ve had no fun"). In all, a great album, from a voice I hope we’ll hear lots more of in years to come.