Folk singer storms barn

By Hazel Sheffield

Laura Marling started out as a folk singer so early that, at 17, she was barred from one of her own shows for being under age. She played on the pavement instead, luminous under the streetlights. But as her reputation grew, so too did her audience, and at times she froze under the pressure. Recording a Jools Holland show at the BBC, she was pale-faced, her gaze fixed on the ground. Even last summer, with three albums and a Brit award under her belt, Marling played an entire festival set in Los Angeles with her head thrown back, unwilling or unable to engage with the crowd.

Her fourth album, "Once I Was an Eagle", marks a shift. The first half thrums with open-tuned steel guitars, the second is more playful, and both are shot through with big ideas. The first single, "Where Can I Go?", is a real barnstormer with a chirpy Hammond organ and gospel-tinged chorus. If Marling’s last album "A Creature I Don’t Know" saw her working out her place as a musician and a woman, this one suggests an artist coming into bloom, writing for the big stages she once feared. It’s a wonderful record. ~ Hazel Sheffield