Laura Marling
"Semper Femina"
(More Alarming (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK))
Ever since singer-guitarist Laura Marling emerged in the mid-aughts as a troubadour associated with fellow Brit new-folk artists such as Mumford & Sons, she's been tagged an "old soul." Sounding as though she had seen the world while still a teenager, beginning with her 2008 debut, "Alas, I Cannot Swim," Marling's metier was an acoustic sound with a lineage going back to Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny. She broke out of that box, however, with 2015's electrified "Short Movie," putting a band behind her and upending confessional expectations. "Semper Femina" combines the two approaches. It slips back into the languorous, contemplative mood in which the still-only-27 (and on her sixth album) Marling is most comfortable but still gets dark and stormy, on the clattering opening of the otherwise well-titled "Soothing" and the closing, bluesy ruckus in "Nothing Not Nearly." Exploring gender issues and femininity _ promo photos show the album title tattooed on her thigh _ Marling has described the album as "me looking specifically at women and feeling great empathy towards them and, by proxy, towards myself." Produced by Blake Mills, "Semper" subtly expands Marlin's sonic palette, as she hones her signature approach of maintaining a calm, soothing surface while emotions roil underneath.
_Dan DeLuca
