Song For Our Daughter - Laura Marling: Review
is a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter who spent the last decade releasing a variety of successful folk records often with a distinct sound of experiment. After her previous record Semper Femina became her biggest success outside of Britain she took the longest break of her career up to this point and returned with Song For Our Daughter.
Review By Lavender:
While I have long been a fan of Laura Marling I never considered her to be one of the greatest artists in her very saturated genre. Despite her talent and pretty consistent output I have never totally adored a record of her, until now. Song For Out Daughter is similarly understated in the way her previous record was but Laura manages to do so much with so little on these tracks both vocally and instrumentally that nearly every second of these short ten tracks is sheer bliss.
The first half of the record is nearly flawless going 4 for 5 with highlights. The opener Alexandra is a twangy guitar ballad to kick the record off with a reserved but personality filled lead vocal performance from Laura. The tracks hook is simple but very effective particularly in the second half of the track where it gains some angelic backing vocals that punctuate the songs progression in a great way. Held Down is a bit of a darker song that reminds me a ton of Sharon Van Etten and for all the right reasons. Once again the vocal subtleties go perfectly with the track and it overcomes a hook that isn't perfect with spectacular attention to detail throughout. Strange Girl may be my favorite song here starting with the flat out killer hook that is so instantly lovely on the ears I haven't stopped thinking about it since I first heard it. The guitar work is sweet and the whole track sounds like it's coming out of some classic, timeless Fleetwood Mac playbook. Finally Blow By Blow is a flat out beautiful piano ballad with gorgeous vocal layering and absolutely pristine songwriting. The song isn't entirely stripped back but every single element comes together in a really beautiful way.
While the biggest highlights come in the first half there is still much more to offer in the second half. The End Of The Affair is one of the quieter songs that manages to redeem itself in the second half as it slowly builds up distant pieces of muted instrumentation and ultimately some beautiful vocal gymnastics that display some range while managing to still sound so tasteful and delicate. Hope We Meet Again is a really great triumphant and beautiful cut late on the record. It pairs the subtlety and nuance that the record always does so well with a confrontational lyrical display that makes it one of the records most memorable moments. The closing track For You is also great and features some of the sweetest vocals on the entire record. The song is a gorgeous and touching expression of love that is all around wonderful and a killer moment to end the record on.
The record doesn't really have any flat out misses but it does have songs that aren't quite as good. Only The Strong is one of the more dramatic tracks on the record but it suffers from a bit of slow pacing. The sounds are still beautiful but given the lyrical content it seems like the track should be developing a little bit more momentum before its final minutes. Song For Out Daughter is the most directly thematic of the songs at least from what I can tell. While the lyrical content is incredibly sound and the emotion Laura is able to summon despite the lowkey nature of her performance is impressive, the instrumental is probably the weakest on the record and the song suffers a little bit as a result. Fortune is a ballad with some strong folk influences but I don't see it as one of the more exciting songs here. Despite some lyricism that I love the slide guitars just sound kind of standard for the genre conventions. Some of the most brutal lyrical moments are met with some of the most ascendant musical embellishments the song has to offer and the way they connect with each other is awkward.
Song For Our Daughter is my favorite Laura Marling release yet and after missing it earlier in the year I'm really glad I got to catch up with the record because it is a real treat, Fans of singer-songwriter music will be impressed by the variety of performances Laura manages to deliver and how emotionally varied they are capable of being despite having such a small and understated sound. Alongside this is both dark chamber pop instrumentals alongside natural fluttery tracks more similar to the genres sound but both are pulled off really well. Song For Our Daughter is just a record I wouldn't let pass you by. 8/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
Very simple and not much to critique. It's not a bad photo and I;m oddly drawn to it but it doesn't have the general wow factor you would normally see in a cover. It's going along the recent trend of grainy, washed out film looks we're seeing throughout work right now and I'm slowly getting tired of it. There's just not enough meat to make this cover worth while. 4/10
For more great singer-songwriter music check out my review of Torres' Silver Tongue here
