The difficult second album was a sensation and a success for the still annoyingly young Laura Marling. Her soft and childlike tone has grown; it has more depth, more feeling and more angst. But the songs on ‘I Speak…’ remain soft and mystifying, wrapping together her new-found love of the countryside and her life so far in a big comfy blanket. Her success, and that of boyfriend Marcus Mumford, must have had some bearing too. But the folky songstress still has a wonderful originality and is one of the few that can sew together folk and pop in a way that propelled her to one the UK’s most loved artists.
Best Bit: The unspoiled beauty of her voice in ‘Blackberry Stone’ sitting over a lone violin, before it builds with some light backing vocals and brushes.
–
Read an interview with Laura Marling HERE.
Read a live review HERE.
Read Clash’s album review of ‘I Speak Because I Can’ HERE.