Things that we love #4: Laura Marling

It's extremely difficult, almost impossible even, for a song to be awarded a 5 star rating on my ipod. The criteria is very tight, the song can't just be good but has to be able to warrant hundreds of repeat listens, without ever being rinsed. And a song can be entered even if the rest of the artist's work is pretty shit (Get over it by OkGo) but some of my favourite artists don't make the grade because they don't have one particular song that is good enough (Be Your Own Pet, The Knife, Bloc Party, actually there's hundreds). The are loads of rules, it's like High Fidelity with bells on.

Yet despite the level of excellence required, Laura Marling, the 16-year-old multi-instrumentalist from Reading, has managed to get two songs into the exclusive 5 star club. Induldging in the alt.folk genre that has allowed many of her contemporaries to escape the seal of death "singer/songwriter" tag, Marling creates simple pop songs crafted to perfection. But while many of the new breed of indie solo artists flirt with fantasy and poetic narratives, Marling is more of an urban princess, flittering between tales of infatuation, escapism and trepidation set against the very recognisable background of Libertines records, candle lit fags and dodgy rock bands.

Marling wears her influences on her sleeve, citing in both her lyrics and her interviews her love for the godfather of the acoustic guitar Ryan Adams. There are also obvious parallels with Regina Spektor, both singers share that woefully endearing combination of apparent innocence and astute wisdom that makes falling in love with them all too easy. But what Marling has over these artists is her youth, allowing her to present the worn toils love and lust from a previously unaired perspective.


Neither of the songs have been made avaliable yet which is why I'm putting they're up. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go to Rough Trade and get the EP, because you should.
Laura Marling - Candelight.mp3

Laura Marling - The man sings about romance mp3