Album Review: Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
A Creature I Don’t Know
Released 12th September 2011
Laura Marling is turning out to be the Queen of British Folk (at least in my eyes) and at such a young age. This album takes yet another twist and turn from her last album just like that did from her début offering. I Speak Because I Can was a very serious affair with a very stripped back feel and in contrast A Creature I Don’t Know is very rich in terms of a broader tapestry of sound and influences. This album was not an instant hit with my ears but it certainly opened them up after a few more listens. In a way this album feels like it could have been made a long long time ago, it really is steeped in sounds of eras gone by; Bluegrass, Jazz, traditional Folk are all there sometimes only in subtle ways but present none the less. A Card begins with a real jazzy feel but it soon becomes more like a folk track with some Blues elements thrown in for good measure. The track really rises and falls and changes pace and texture, it’s a complex piece of work that comes together beautifully.
Laura Marling’s tracks are always about telling a tale. My Friends tells a wonderful tale and is one of the stronger sounding Bluegrass tracks on the album. The vocal, when it hits that certain note, you’ll know the one I mean when you hear it, It gives me goosebumps. The harmonies that she does herself are also just divine, really. I wish I could sing along to these songs, but they don’t really feel like songs to sing along to. This one in particular feels though you need to really pay attention, it demands your attention, it isn’t a throw away sing along track. Salinas is another tale that requires your attention. It isn’t autobiographical even though it is sung in the first person. There’s real Blues elements to this track, the guitar, the harmonica, the way the tale is told. The track is a little on the long side but not the longest on the album, it does feel like it drags on for a little bit toward the end of the track but I can’t imagine it ending any other way and it doesn’t feel lengthy in a ostentatious way.
The Beast is a really dark and murky track that I find really engaging. It starts out as a simple guitar and vocal track and then builds beautifully. The percussion totally sucks me in when it starts. The lyrics are dark and Laura has an incredible ability to sing perfect sweeping high notes in some of her tracks whilst in ones like this she has a gritty, hard, lower tone that still works well for her though it can sometimes lack a little in power. Here though the power in the track comes from the combination of the vocal and the instrumentation, the percussion never lets up from the moment it is introduced and the end of the track culminates in a wonderful cacophony of dark snarls and devious guitar riffs. It’s a really strong track on an album that is hardly lacking in great tracks, so that is saying something. It’s also just shy of being 6 minutes long but it never feels it and for that it easily becomes my favourite track on the album. I keep finding myself going back to it to listen over and over, even when I’m in the middle of the album, I simply want to hear it again.
The fact that The Beast is followed by the gorgeous Night After Night also seems like a mighty good reason to listen to this part of the album over and over. The songs are totally different in every way. This is stunning in a ‘close your eyes and listen to that vocal’ kind of way. It really is a vocal that is quite distinctive, you could hear Laura Marling anywhere singing anything and you would know straight away that it was her. It is almost strange to listen to this album knowing she used to dabble in the poppier side of folk starting out as a member of Noah and The Whale, working with The Rakes and of course The Mystery Jets. Not that there is anything wrong with pop but the maturity she’s shown in her past album, and now this, is really stunning, and she is still so young at only twenty one years of age. If both of her previous albums have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize then this is sure to follow in the same path. Laura Marling must, and I’m sure will, become one of the most important singer songwriters in the UK. A big future to push her towards I know, but with albums such as this how could I be wrong?
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