When a teenage Laura Marling released her debut record, her depth and maturity was lauded. A even better second album followed and this year she won Best British Female Solo Artist prize at the Brit Awards and best solo artist at the NME awards. So it is with high expectations that her third long-player arrives.
Produced by Ethan Johns (Kings Of Leon, Ryan Adams, Ray LaMontagne, Emmylou Harris), the album isn't quite an unknown creature but, while the overall tone is similar to her stunningly serious and brooding sophomore record, it certainly reaches in more directions and has more levity. For instance, country rock opener The Muse is as jaunty a musical offering as we have heard from the English songwriter, The Beast builds to an unexpected rock-out and All My Rage is a frantic sea shanty. In keeping with the record's ambition, Marling's vocal range continues to grow as well. In the more upbeat moments, she hits some high notes with near gay abandon, while her rich, almost spoken, tones perfectly fit the darker songs. Crucially, her lyrics remain typically stunning. As well as weaving through her music beautifully, her emotive, weighty words read like poetry. “He longs for the woman who will conquer his lust/ He screams in the night/ I scream in the day/ We weep in the evening and lie naked and pray,” she sings forlornly on the desperately beautiful, finger-picked Night After Night.
A Creature I Don't Know manages to be Marling's most expansive record and also her most accessible, and proves her to be one of the most honest, intelligent and breathtakingly talented artists in music today.
Review By Bobby Townsend. It originally appeared in Sydney's Drum Media.
