Laura Marling is a folk-pop singer-songwriter from Hampshire, England. Marling has toured with a number of well-known indie artists in the UK, and is now about to kill it in the US (don’t say we didn’t tell you so). Her new record “Alas, I Cannot Swim” is one of those records where you will just love every song and not know which is your favorite. From short (under 3 min) songs that take you through entire novel-like stories to wild frenzies of mania in snippets of melody. You keep wanting to think folk, but you get transported elsewhere. This may have been what your Mom was listening to while rolling a joint at Woodstock, but maybe not. This is cinematic music to listen to on long trips to foreign lands… or at least on your morning commute.
If you buy the actual CD, you’ll notice that this album doesn’t just appear in a ‘normal’ format – the music is part of a ‘Song Box’, designed by Laura, which contains postcards, trinkets and stories – plus a concert ticket to her shows in March. ‘The idea came of a conversation I had with a guy who owned the studio I was recording in,’ says Marling. ‘He said he was depressed with the way music’s going, because nobody buys records any more and people are listening to MP3s on bad headphones, using music for wallpaper.’ So, she designed the chart-ineligible, beautifully printed ‘Song Box’: ‘I want people to *love music,’ she says, ‘I want people to treasure it, not just my songs, but treasure music.
Just buy the record (cuz you trust our taste) or check it out on her site or myspace page. She’s currently on tour in the US and will be in the UK in November. Check out her site for tour dates. And if you have a couple of minutes, watch the video for “My Manic and I” below. Doesn’t she look like an old school, pre-botox Courtney Love?