Laura Marling – ‘The Beast’

It should be well established by now that Ms Marling is an absolute goddess and the guy who has written about her more times than he can possibly count is completely besotted with her and believes she can do no wrong. It’s not like he didn’t spend a whole day walking around aimlessly when he got her new record just so he could have the exquisite joy of listening to her voice uninterrupted on oversized headphones out in Nature with a capital N amongst the Faceless Masses with other capitals. It’s just that a lot of records are released every year and sometimes when you’re trading in the business of songs, as we are, it’s hard to isolate one on an album as strong as A Creature I Don’t Know. Let it be known that although he managed to bed/wed Carey Mulligan as quickly as he can get a banjo and a bass drum together, breaking up with Laura Marling will be the biggest mistake Marcus Mumford ever made. You’ve read the press releases and seen the spiels; she is a woman of talent well beyond her years. But she’s more than that, Ms Marling. She’s not just a thing in a box. And that’s why it’s best to listen to her, alone, uninterrupted, preferably in a park where there are no small children.

Listening back to an early tune like ‘Ghosts’ – which isn’t even that old, anyway – gives a full scope to just how quickly and excitingly Marling has developed as a writer but also as a vocalist. Actually, strictly speaking that’s probably not true. I really do believe, especially having studiously pored over her entire body of work like the manic obsessive that I am, that Marling has always had the ability to be brilliant and that it isn’t really a devleopment in so much as it is an uncovering. The voice is the same, but it’s richer and like a gorgeous, impetuous, teenager, taking risks and running too close to the edge of cliffs. Marling, who was discovered as an actual teenager, can’t have had the same adolescence that we all did. That kind of free-wheeling spirit is no better represented than in the cornerstone of her new record, ‘The Beast’, which broods and burns like all hell, shifting gears incrementally as it goes up the hill towards the aforementioned cliff. It’s veering much closer to current Australian visitor PJ Harvey than Bon Iver territory, with definite strains of bombastic Led Zeppelin ‘Kashmir’-esque guitar tracking thrown in for good measure. Going all electric, and not amplified electric but loud, brittle and dirty electric, is a bold move for Marling and she rolls with it effortlessly. The queen of quiet is just as compelling when she’s gunning for it, which is subtle code for I Can Do Anything, Just You Watch. And watch I have.

Honestly I feel kind of bad for having ruined to big ‘tell’ that happens in the second half of this number, but if you haven’t heard the record by now I accept no responsibility for your tardiness. I’m still swooning at the way Marling can swoop herself under a note in that kind of classic Dylan/Patti Smith affectation (I feel this is a much better comparison than Joni Mitchell, which is popular but not fully representative by any strech of the imagination), but one thing that isn’t in dispute is how much control and how great Marling is as a vocalist. It’s showing is less prnounced in this number, which takes a back seat to the instrumentation, but that’s Laura you hear ripping through those guitar lines and those are her arrangements. This girl remains younger and more talented than me, you and everyone I know. One day, I will try to make her marry me. Mark my words. Also mark the word ‘try’. That way I won’t feel so bad when I inevitably fail.

Laura Marling – ‘The Beast’