I Speak Because I Can

Whatever your opinion of Laura Marling, she is an artist that attracts attention. The main talking point of Alas I Cannot Swim was the age of the artist, juxtaposed with the mature poise of the lyrics and music. Recorded whilst she was but 17, its ponderings on love and all that eventually garnered a Mercury nomination and high positions in those end of year lists. You probably know this.

Reviewing Laura Marling's Mercury Prize-nominated debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, in 2008, I worried that the then-18-year-old might too quickly shed the teenage guilelessness that contributed so greatly to the record's appeal. Marling possessed an undeniable knack for writing about young love with directness and authentic feeling, but at times her pseudo-profound poetics suggested the young folkie was in too much of a hurry to be a serious adult.