Her songs are similarly sparse and fragile, with some astonishingly mature lyrics framed by beautifully pretty melodies.
Alas, I Cannot Swim is an awe-inspiring debut by an old soul on a mission to inject some much needed legitimacy into the singer/songwriting tradition.
The unnervingly grown-up Alas I Cannot Swim is the result, and if it doesn't install her as the heir to the likes of Devendra Banhart, there's no hope for folk-pop.
Where Adele sounds like a method actor, Marling weaves secretive threads of thought that suggest she’s agonised over things long enough for them to come together with a thud in plain-spoken full stops.
There's every chance that Laura Marling will get lost in the shuffle as the unexpected commercial success of Feist's The Reminder leads major labels to unleash hordes of similarly talented female singer/songwriters, but Alas I Cannot Swim is far better than the average coffee house-endorsed girly pop.
Marling’s voice, rich and tenuous, recalls Joni Mitchell, but her fatalistic screeds — sung over acoustic guitar, with an occasional burst of percussion or strings — owe more to Nick Drake and Will Oldham.
Her creamy voice canters over deft fingerpicked guitars and celtic violin throughout the rest of the album, and although the heights of the aforementioned song are barely hinted at elsewhere, Marling’s promise – she’s just 17 years old – is as clear as spring water.
This album is really nothing special but Laura has always been a talented singer and a really solid songwriter.
I put 'Crawled Out Of The Sea (Interlude)' on repeat when I need to crawl out of bed, the sea, the dark hole of sadness inside us all, etc.
All the individual songs are rlly rlly good but the lack of variation in sound means that everything kinda blurs together in a kinda boring project overall. Like half this album is in my liked songs but I never rlly come back and listen to this.
Album art 4/10
i love marling, the writing here is already great and gets even better throughout her career. this one is a good debut, i'm glad she grew sm as an artist. not that "alas, i cannot swim" is bad at all, it just doesnt have a huge impact on me. it was enough for me to keep listening to her music in the past tho, and i will for sure revisit her whole discography.
1 | Ghosts 3:01 | 94 |
2 | Old Stone 2:59 | 90 |
3 | Tap at My Window 2:47 | 90 |
4 | Failure 3:21 | 89 |
5 | You're No God 2:27 | 87 |
6 | Cross Your Fingers 2:23 | 86 |
7 | Crawled Out of the Sea (Interlude) 1:16 | 88 |
8 | My Manic and I 3:56 | 86 |
9 | Night Terror 3:09 | 89 |
10 | The Captain and the Hourglass 3:09 | 87 |
11 | Shine 2:39 | 86 |
12 | Your Only Doll (Dora) 7:18 Contains hidden track "Alas I Cannot Swim" | 90 |
#8 | / | musicOMH |
#14 | / | NME |
#18 | / | The Guardian |
#47 | / | Paste |