Laura Marling has announced that her new album, Song for Our Daughter, will be released on 10 April.
The LP was originally scheduled for a summer release but has since been pushed forward.
“In light of the change to all our circumstances, I saw no reason to hold back on something that, at the very least, might entertain, and at its best, provide some sense of union,” Marling wrote in a statement.
“It’s strange to watch the facade of our daily lives dissolve away, leaving only the essentials; those we love and our worry for them.
“An album, stripped of everything that modernity and ownership does to it, is essentially a piece of me, and I’d like for you to have it.”
She continued: “I’d like for you, perhaps, to hear a strange story about the fragmentary, nonsensical experience of trauma and an enduring quest to understand what it is to be a woman in this society. When I listen back to it now, it makes more sense to me then when I wrote it. My writing, as ever, was months, years, in front of my conscious mind. It was there all along, guiding me gently through the chaos of living. And that, in itself, describes the sentiment of the album — how would I guide my daughter, arm her and prepare her for life and all of its nuance? I’m older now, old enough to have a daughter of my own, and I feel acutely the responsibility to defend The Girl.
“The Girl that might be lost, torn from innocence prematurely or unwittingly fragmented by forces that dominate society.
“I want to stand behind her and whisper in her ear all the confidences and affirmations I had found so difficult to provide myself. This album is that strange whisper; a little distorted, a little out of sequence, such is life.
“I want you to have it.”
To accompany the announcement, she also shared a new song, “Held Down”.
Marling released her last solo album, Semper Femina, in 2017.
Her collaborative project with Tungg’s Mike Lindsay, LUMP, was released in 2018.
