In 2008, the shy, blonde English teenager Laura Marling released her debut album, Alas I Cannot Swim. A pioneering record of the “new folk scene” in London, it featured production from former boyfriend Charlie Fink, the frontman of English jangle folk group Noah and the Whale, and Mumford & Sons as the backing band. It was a startlingly mature, bewitching collection of wise folk pop, and received widespread critical attention before eventually receiving a Mercury Prize nomination. The good news for Marling fans is that a follow up is not far away. I Speak Because I Can, with production from Ethan Johns, is due on March 1, with the following tracklisting:
1 Devil’s Spoke
2 Made By Maid
3 Rambling Man
4 Blackberry Stone
5 Alpha Shallows
6 Goodbye England
7 Hope In The Air
8 What He Wrote
9 Darkness Descends
10 I Speak Because I Can
Marling is playing a number of dates in Australia this month, before moving onto a brief February tour of North America. You can catch her at the following venues by buying tickets here:
Feb 3 – San Diego, CA / Casbah
Feb 4 – Los Angeles, CA / Largo
Feb 5 – Visalia, CA / The Cellar
Feb 6 – San Francisco, CA / Swedish American Hall
Feb 9 – Toronto, ON / Drake Hotel
Feb 10 – Montreal, QC / Divan Orange
Feb 12 – New York, NY / (le) Poisson Rouge
Feb 13 – Norfolk, VA / Attucks Theater
-Via ClashMusic and lauramarling.com
