A Creature I Don't Know by Laura Marling - music review from The Blurb

I’ve already read a number of reviews for A Creature I Don’t Know that either mention a) Laura Marling’s young age (21) b) her recent breakup with Mumford and Sons frontman Marcus Mumford or c) whether she is this generation’s Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell. I don’t plan on commenting on any of the above except to say on the last point – A Creature I Don’t Know proves that Marling isn’t anything except this generation’s Laura Marling.

It’s been an interesting process watching Marling grow as a singer, musician and most importantly songwriter over the course of her three albums Alas I Cannot Swim, I Speak Because I Can and the latest A Creature I Don’t Know. I’ve read that Marling is a little embarrassed by her first album, and in truth she has come so far since its release, but I firmly believe she’s been on a personal musical journey – without Alas I Cannot Swim there would be no I Speak Because I Can or A Creature I Don’t Know.

Laura Marling’s skills with the guitar are a wonderful gauge for this growth. The skill with which she moves around her instrument (and her willingness to experiment with the much neglected nylon verison) is leaps and bounds beyond her strumming on her debut. She’s always made interesting and innovative chord choices (probably due to a natural musical talent) but the way she moves between these changes, adapts her strumming and picking style to suit the tone of each song is amazing. If you’ve seen the Baeblemusic.com video of Marling performing “Sofia” acoustically her guitar playing is simply mesmerising.

But it’s her songwriting that is once again the star. A Creature I Don’t Know feels almost like a concept album with the main character (Marling herself?) torn between Sophia (wisdom, the feminine aspect of God) and The Beast. For a self-proclaimed atheist (“I’m not religious, I’m not romantic and I live purely by logic” she recently told The Sydney Morning Herald) religion features heavily throughout Marling’s music with references to God, angels and prayer abundant throughout (the first line in the first song “The Muse” is “God’s work is planned”). But I don’t think (and I may be wrong) that Sophia and The Beast are religious figures within the context of the songs – instead I think they are aspects of her own humanity, extremes of her own nature, one of which she aspires to and the other which she finds herself continually becoming. In “The Beast”, probably the album’s heaviest song with it’s wailing electric guitar, Marling sings “You know I’ve been running ’round for hours/Calling my Egyptian blood to bear me flowers/Calling Sophia, goddess of power/Instead I got the beast/And tonight he lies with me”.

Despite the distorted guitar throughout, A Creature I Don’t Know draws very heavily on the folk tradition. I swear everytime I hear Marling sing “Sonny don’t come here no more/He don’t drink from this well/He’s done with the world/And done with the girl” from “Don’t Ask Me Why” that I’ve heard those lyrics in a folk song somewhere else before. Similarly the melody in the second half of “Sophia” is so close to the traditional “Tell Me Ma” (only with a Americana twist) that it must be an influence if not a tribute. And the final track, “All My Rage”, with it’s autoharp-sounding guitar, driving rhythm and turn of phrase (“All my rage been gone”) feels like it could have been a spiritual from the deep south of America in much the same way “Alas I Cannot Swim” from her first album sounds like an English folk song.

I do like the way that Marling has infused many of the songs on A Creature I Don’t Know with influences from her recent collaborations. The sitar droning underneath “All My Rage” has to be a nod to her work with The Dharohar Project and there’s more than a pinch of Jack White (who she recorded with) in the crunching electric guitar throughout. But like I said Marling is more than the sum of her influences and every song on this album is 100% hers.

If I had to pick a favourite track I would be torn between “The Muse”, “Salinas”, “The Beast” and “Sophia” (although I do crack a satisfied smile everytime “All My Rage” hits my ears). A Creature I Don’t Know will be hard pressed to replace I Speak Because I Can as my favourite Marling album (I simply adore her sophomore effort) but it is still absolutely outstanding and cements her as one of the greatest of our generation.



A Creature I Don't Know Artist: Laura Marling Label: Virgin Website: lauramarling.com
Marling's Creature feature I’ve already read a number of reviews for A Creature I Don’t Know that either mention a) Laura Marling’s young age (21) b) her recent breakup with Mumford and Sons frontman Marcus Mumford or c) whether she is this generation’s Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell. I don’t plan on commenting on any of the above except to say on the last point – A Creature I Don’t Know proves that Marling isn’t anything except this generation’s Laura Marling. It’s been an interesting process watching Marling grow as a singer, musician and most importantly songwriter over the course of her three albums Alas I Cannot Swim, I Speak Because I Can and the latest A Creature I Don’t Know. I’ve read that Marling is a little embarrassed by her first album, and in truth she has come so far since its release, but I firmly believe she’s been on a personal musical journey – without Alas I Cannot Swim there would be no I Speak Because I Can or A Creature I Don’t Know. Laura Marling’s skills with the guitar are a wonderful gauge for this growth. The skill with which she moves around her instrument (and her willingness to experiment with the much neglected nylon verison) is leaps and bounds beyond her strumming on her debut. She’s always made interesting and innovative chord choices (probably due to a natural musical talent) but the way she moves between these changes, adapts her strumming and picking style to suit the tone of each song is amazing. If you’ve seen the Baeblemusic.com video of Marling performing “Sofia” acoustically her guitar playing is simply mesmerising. But it’s her songwriting that is once again the star. A Creature I Don’t Know feels almost like a concept album with the main character (Marling herself?) torn between Sophia (wisdom, the feminine aspect of God) and The Beast. For a self-proclaimed atheist (“I’m not religious, I’m not romantic and I live purely by logic” she recently told The Sydney Morning Herald) religion features heavily throughout Marling’s music with references to God, angels and prayer abundant throughout (the first line in the first song “The Muse” is “God’s work is planned”). But I don’t think (and I may be wrong) that Sophia and The Beast are religious figures within the context of the songs – instead I think they are aspects of her own humanity, extremes of her own nature, one of which she aspires to and the other which she finds herself continually becoming. In “The Beast”, probably the album’s heaviest song with it’s wailing electric guitar, Marling sings “You know I’ve been running ’round for hours/Calling my Egyptian blood to bear me flowers/Calling Sophia, goddess of power/Instead I got the beast/And tonight he lies with me”. Despite the distorted guitar throughout, A Creature I Don’t Know draws very heavily on the folk tradition. I swear everytime I hear Marling sing “Sonny don’t come here no more/He don’t drink from this well/He’s done with the world/And done with the girl” from “Don’t Ask Me Why” that I’ve heard those lyrics in a folk song somewhere else before. Similarly the melody in the second half of “Sophia” is so close to the traditional “Tell Me Ma” (only with a Americana twist) that it must be an influence if not a tribute. And the final track, “All My Rage”, with it’s autoharp-sounding guitar, driving rhythm and turn of phrase (“All my rage been gone”) feels like it could have been a spiritual from the deep south of America in much the same way “Alas I Cannot Swim” from her first album sounds like an English folk song. I do like the way that Marling has infused many of the songs on A Creature I Don’t Know with influences from her recent collaborations. The sitar droning underneath “All My Rage” has to be a nod to her work with The Dharohar Project and there’s more than a pinch of Jack White (who she recorded with) in the crunching electric guitar throughout. But like I said Marling is more than the sum of her influences and every song on this album is 100% hers. If I had to pick a favourite track I would be torn between “The Muse”, “Salinas”, “The Beast” and “Sophia” (although I do crack a satisfied smile everytime “All My Rage” hits my ears). A Creature I Don’t Know will be hard pressed to replace I Speak Because I Can as my favourite Marling album (I simply adore her sophomore effort) but it is still absolutely outstanding and cements her as one of the greatest of our generation. And did I mention she’s only 21? Evan Hughes For more of Evan Hughes’ music reviews, check out Timber and Steel HTML Comment Box is loading comments...

A Creature I Don't Know

Marling's Creature feature