Saturday, December 17, 2011

STN Albums Of The Year no.14: Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know

So it turns out Laura didn't already know who she was after all in more than title. Another slight shift along the confessional folk-rock panorama, A Creature I Don't Know is looser than I Speak Because I Can and more openly influenced by Americana, specifically the holy duality of Bob and Joni, jazzier and lyrically more confused about what's happening to her and trying to free herself from pasts and expectations as she ages. There's new sides to her psyche being unravelled - The Beast, say, five and a half minutes of shudderinglt dark maelstrom in electric minor chords - while the songs pared back to acoustic guitar and classically yearning vocal retain a lot more weight. It's not quite cathartic, Marling is still bringing too much on herself quite for that, but there's a wicked glee lurking under its surface.

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