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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
The folk singer's seventh album, a tribute to a figurative character, largely eschews percussion in favour of piercing words. It's a graceful ode to resilience.
100
Song For Our Daughter is her most measured and mature work, and perhaps the most accessible to those as yet unpersuaded.
100
With Song For Our Daughter, she joins the ranks of the world’s most extraordinary singer-songwriters.
100
From the opening strummed chords to the last hummed notes Song for our Daughter is full of Californian haze, making for a gorgeously contemplative experience.
100
More subtle than her previous works, these new songs are as fragmented and beautiful as stained glass.
100
Song For Our Daughter is, well, so uncannily, unreasonably and astutely beautiful that it meticulously sets aside every last one of your emotional checks and balances to wrap your core in a firm embrace.
90
Its this predominant facet of nature and humanity which pulses through Song For Our Daughter; dealing with other humans, listening to cautionary anecdotes, and just surviving in a world that may not always be on your side but at the very least Marling is here to offer a delicate hand of guidance.
90
With all the understated power of the record, it feels far from unkind. Instead it’s an absolute necessity.
90
What Song for Our Daughter lacks in experimentation it more than makes up for with its robust songwriting.
90
Above all there is a beautiful comfort to the record. In an anxious and uncertain period for the human race we have been given a gift that can calm and allay fears if you let it wash over you.
90
I don’t really like writing pieces or my reviews around myself, but this is the album I needed to hear in a time of great anxiety. It is peaceful and near-perfect in a way that I think many people could use right now. I think you should hear it.
90
While the initial impact of the album may feel almost “too” subtle and delicate, careful consideration of Marling’s themes and production makes this album one of this year’s best.
88
At just 36 minutes, it’s her shortest record thus far, but it’s simultaneously Marling’s most straightforward, musically simplistic record to date and her most beautiful release yet. Song For Our Daughter is comforting, serving as a warm blanket for us to hide under during this uneasy historical moment.
80
Written to an imaginary child about ‘what it is to be a woman in this society’, the singer’s seventh album is alternately intimate, sneering and sad, and lavished with gorgeous melodies.
80
‘Song For Our Daughter’ is a powerful and resounding success, and re-affirms Marling’s position as one of our most important feminist songwriters.
80
Song for Our Daughter is a touching recording, and it demonstrates that, no matter the sonic style she chooses to play with, Marling remains at the top of her game.
80
Song For Our Daughter is a return to what made her so widely admired. These are songs of undoubted depth and longevity that can provide moments of relief and solace to those in need.
80
Marling’s record is so mellifluous and listenable, in part thanks to the unobtrusive string arrangements by Bob Moose (Bon Iver, The National), that you can’t fault her for cribbing off the greats.
80
Marling finds the right variations on Song For Our Daughter, her sonically intimate seventh album.
80
That its simply stated statements resonate all the more in a quieter time go to show that Marling’s instincts to deliver this gift to our doorsteps early were perfectly timed.
80
With Song For Our Daughter, she’s making significant musical changes – adding fullness via a wide range of instruments, and a melodic pop swing, adopting a free-range approach to the possibilities of sound – and extending her conceptual reach.
80
Marling's seventh solo LP has the clarity, mastery and quiet strength of a folk-rock classic.
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1y
80
For her most immediate, heartfelt album yet, Marling forensically explores womanhood in glorious songs.
80
If Laura Marling's Grammy-nominated standout, Semper Femina, signified a mid-career watershed, her 2020 follow-up, Song for Our Daughter, finds the Londoner moving through a subtler, though equally vital evolution replete with sharpened observations and a gripping sense of vulnerability.
80
This album is a beautiful addition to Marling’s already glowing catalogue of music.
77
Her new album, Song For Our Daughter, is the first record she has written away from the road, and the evidence is there in the sometimes homely feel and the dulled theatrical flair.
76
Song for Our Daughter brims with peaceful reflections that, even though Marling herself is just grazing her 30s, could seem like the work of an artist in their twilight years.
70
The gentle progression on show within Song For Our Daughter is rather lovely to witness, and plots Marling on an ever-improving trajectory.
70
It’s a record steeped in the pain of experience, but buoyed by hope.
70
Song For Our Daughter is another gorgeous and moving album from one of the UK’s finest songwriters, and the ideal balm for our troubled times. It’s perhaps Marling’s quietest and most cryptic release – one that asks you to spend plenty of time with it.
Without departing from the rule, Laura Marling offers us once again a new album which is characterized in the foreground by a particularly fabulous writing, supported by a warm voice and clear-sighted melodies, while the instrumentalization of folk/pop baroque chamber music is a little more discreet.
She has been delighting us with her music for more than 10 years now, with a succession of vibrant albums that all have their own peculiarities, ideas and varied themes, which has resulted in a ... read more
She has been delighting us with her music for more than 10 years now, with a succession of vibrant albums that all have their own peculiarities, ideas and varied themes, which has resulted in a ... read more
‘Song For Our Daughter’ is, at its simplest, meticulously poetic. the songwriting is brilliant. Marling writes as if she’s ten steps ahead of the listener (which she is). she creates songs with feministic rapport, wit, understanding, and constant movement.
the lone producers on this album are Marling herself and collaborator Ethan Johns. they largely take out percussion. they add in peaceful strings, stylish guitars with different pickings, and multiple versions of backing ... read more
the lone producers on this album are Marling herself and collaborator Ethan Johns. they largely take out percussion. they add in peaceful strings, stylish guitars with different pickings, and multiple versions of backing ... read more
Edit : here we go again, fantano gives 9, so the user score jump. Why don't you own a taste ? Or just ... understand the album ?
Another excellent addition in Laura Marling discography, Song of our daughter may be one of her most personal album. Constructed as an open letter about her family/child about growing up, she truly shines in the songwriting department. Very beautiful.
Sonically, this is the culmination of years of work, specially from Once I was an Eagle to Semper Femina. The ... read more
Another excellent addition in Laura Marling discography, Song of our daughter may be one of her most personal album. Constructed as an open letter about her family/child about growing up, she truly shines in the songwriting department. Very beautiful.
Sonically, this is the culmination of years of work, specially from Once I was an Eagle to Semper Femina. The ... read more
I had never heard of Laura Marling, but I saw the great reviews and saw it was nominated at the Grammys in the Folk category and decided to give this a chance.
This is a truly beautiful record that feels so personal and intimate. This album doesn’t have any grand production or anything, but that’s part of what makes it so good. Your focus throughout the album is on Laura Marling and her great songwriting and performances. There are some songs that I don’t think reach their ... read more
This is a truly beautiful record that feels so personal and intimate. This album doesn’t have any grand production or anything, but that’s part of what makes it so good. Your focus throughout the album is on Laura Marling and her great songwriting and performances. There are some songs that I don’t think reach their ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Alexandra 3:19 | 91 |
| 2 | Held Down 4:07 | 91 |
| 3 | Strange Girl 3:21 | 90 |
| 4 | Only the Strong 3:20 | 87 |
| 5 | Blow By Blow 2:55 | 89 |
| 6 | Song for Our Daughter 4:06 | 97 |
| 7 | Fortune 3:55 | 87 |
| 8 | The End of the Affair 3:24 | 93 |
| 9 | Hope We Meet Again 4:05 | 90 |
| 10 | For You 3:57 | 94 |
Total Length: 36 minutes
Year End Lists
| #3 | / | Drowned in Sound |
| #4 | / | God Is In The TV |
| #4 | / | Rough Trade |
| #4 | / | The Independent |
| #6 | / | The Needle Drop |
| #7 | / | Double J |
| #9 | / | No Ripcord |
| #10 | / | Uncut |
| #11 | / | GQ [UK] |
| #12 | / | Far Out Magazine |
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2w
albumoftheyear.org users give Laura Marling albums 80+ scores like they deserve challenge
7mo
I hope people come around on this album... a 79 is just, too low. This is a masterpiece
1y
Six must hears in the last ten years. The phrase "your faves could never" is thrown around a lot, but, well...
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Added on: April 5, 2020