Crack

''Laura Marling has platitudes coming at her from all angles with considerable justification.

In the rejuvenated world of the acoustic guitar and all the popularity it’s enjoying at the moment, she stands very tall. In the period between her first album Alas I Cannot Swim (2008) and current record I Speak Because I Can, you have a unique situation.''

Marling was discovered at the age of 16, (she is now 20). Her transition through adolescence into womanhood is not something that usually takes place to an artist in the public eye, who isn’t in a pop group. It is hard to pick out another contemporary songstress in the public eye, where this transition has taken place between albums.
The great thing about Marling is we are privvy to the fruits of her labour on what is truly one of the most astounding records you’re likely to hear this year.

If her first record was a remarkable feat of song writing, the second is the sound of an assured woman taking her place away from the hype and into a much more credible realm. Softly spoken, natural and with a fierce intelligence, her song writing mirrors her persona.

There is a sense of assurance in Marling’s demeanour that comes with her natural development and supported by her talent. Her progress is hard to ignore.
Every piece of lyrical discourse about relationships, death, sorrow, happiness is ramped up a level. The focus on womanhood is another overtly apparent theme. It was always going to be. With a number three album, commercial success beckons, but Crack is under no illusions. It will be on her terms.


How would you describe the transition in the time between your first and second album?

“To me the process of song writing seems the same. What has changed is that I’m almost an entirely different person because of the three years. I can only write what I know and what I’ve experienced.”

What is inspiring you at the minute?

“I’ve just been made a godmother.”

Is there a conscious feminine or feminist slant on the album?

“There isn’t all that much I’m conscious of when I’m writing, but when it comes together it becomes obvious there is that slant. But I wouldn’t call it feminism; I’d called it feminine because of what I was interested in at the time of writing. I’d been reading lots of bits and pieces of women’s role in history, mostly in religion and at the very beginning of western literature. I find it interesting there has been a dip and a recession in the role of women in the last two thousand years.

What authors in particular?

“The thing that sparked me off was The Odyssey and the character of Penelope. In this area of study Virginia Woolf also has a lot to say. But a lot of it also came down to my love of soppy, gossip romances like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The role of women in Austen novels is always interesting, because they are always strong and witty, repressed and looking for a husband.”

With your career clearly on an upward trajectory and the new album being very well received, how are you finding the increase in attention?

“In that respect nothing has changed since the first album, I still only do what I want to do. I have to be happy otherwise it can be tough. If there is attention that I haven’t directly commissioned but is about me, I stay away. I try not to read any articles. That’s the best piece of advice I’ve ever had.”

Has that made you quite selective about who you deal with?

“These smaller things are always more interesting and the bigger things are just bossy people. I’m quite picky with what I do.”

'How do think the new record has progressed musically?

“Fundamentally my guitar playing is better, so the songs have been written in a slightly more intricate way. We did pre-production with the band that have been my band for the last two years and they wrote all their own parts. It was really good and organic, for the want of a less pretentious word.”

The self referential lyrics about your fear of death stick out on the album.

“Doesn’t everyone have that fear?”

It’s a very mature topic to take on. Do you find people comment on your age as you were signed so young and you have such a mature song writing style?

“I still find it incredibly patronising when people congratulate me for my maturity. They know nothing of what I’ve gone through and the work I’ve put in to think about the things I think about. This is what I devote my time to. If I was at university I’d be devoting my time to something else and no one would call me mature for that. So I find it slightly difficult, but when people say it I don’t think they mean to be patronising. You can’t hold it against people because that’s been the tagline throughout my career. I don’t consider it wise or mature. I consider it a much of a muchness.”

What are your plans for the summer?

“Glastonbury, then Latitude and T in the Park.”




Tune: Made By Maid

http://www.myspace.com/lauramarling

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