The UK's latest Bright Young Thing has strummed up a pretty decent debut ablum, following a well-received EP and appearance on Later… with Jools Holland last year.
This is a deeply folky set, with Marling's unabashedly English way, and shades of Joni Mitchell (Shine) and Sandy Denny (Night Terror, Dora, Your Only Doll). But is there any need for the birdsong and rainfall SFX? We got it already.
The dark opener Ghosts is a fine statement of intent, and one of the best cuts here, though the first half of the album has most of the more obvious offerings – Cross Your Fingers sounds like the attempt at a breakout single, Failsure is anonymous, and I swear I've heard the melody from Tap at My Window somewhere else before (answers on a postcard to the usual address please).
Later on we get the Phil Spector-in-Arran-sweater pop-folk Crawled Out of the Sea; the mournful swell of My Manic and I; and the sinuously brooding Night Terror, which opens with the delicious line, "I woke up and he was screaming…"
At just 18, the polish in Marling's songwriting is impressive, though that knowledge makes some lines seem awf'lly precocious - "Honey I was never gonna change"? But more often she reveals an excellently dark sensibility:
Well I sold my soul to Jesus and since then I've had no fun…
Or the repeated line in My Manic and I, "morning is mocking me".
This is a solid start for the youngster from Reading, and we have to hope all that promise doesn't get squandered by her record company (the story about being refused entry to her own gig in Soho, then performing on the street, just reeks of PR stunt).
Four fiddle-dees out-dee of five:
Buy it DRM-free at 7digital.
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