Laura Marling
“Where Can I Go?”
Once I Was An Eagle (out May 28 on Virgin)
It’s quite mind boggling that British folk-singer Laura Marling has released two totally legitimate freewheeling folk LPs and one capital-B-brilliant one (2010’s I Speak Because I Can) before her 24th birthday. The Hampshire native is set to release her fourth, and its first single, “Where Can I Go?” suggests that it’ll be another quality effort. Marling definitely subscribes to the Mitchell School of Folk, armed with a warm, expressive voice and slack-stringed, fingerpicked guitarwork. Lyrically, she also is reminiscent of the hyper-reflective Canuck, constantly searching for a foothold in an increasingly complicated world. It may be an unfair comparison, but in her short career, the diminutive singer has refused to let anything keep her down.