Description
We are living, as we are well aware, through uncertain times. Routines have been upended, each day feeling unstable and insecure. Any hint of regularity – crucially that which is enjoyable – has become essential. Enter UK artist Laura Marling’s seventh album, ‘Song For Our Daughter’. The release is something of a surprise, a burst of novelty within the new normal. Across 10 air-tight tracks, meticulously crafted and elegantly delivered, it’s an absolute triumph. Marling has been making albums for over a decade, starting with her 2008 debut, Alas, I Cannot Swim. Since then, she’s managed to make an album every year or two, an ambitious pace. Her recent albums, 2015’s Short Movie and 2017’s Semper Femina, used more production and electric instrumentation but on Song For Our Daughter, she’s using the traditional musical tools of folk and making subtle adjustments to each roll of the album’s beautiful ten songs.
Subtlety is sometimes used as a proxy for dull. Song For Our Daughter isn’t dull; it’s certainly mellow, but that’s what makes the subtlety pop. The little electric guitar runs and accordion flourishes feel huge when peeking out of Marling’s quiet songs. The low-key production also allows Marling’s voice to take its rightful place at the center of each song.
