Alas I Cannot Swim
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Artist: Laura Marling List Price: £10.99  |
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 | Product Details: Release Date: 11 February 2008 Record Label: EMI Rating:   Sales Rank: 10501 | | Look for similar items by category:
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| | Customer Reviews: This is a lovely album which grows on you. (19 November 2008)I have heard this album a number of times now and each time I find something else to like about it. She is a very young lady with an old soul. Great stuff. Alas I Cannot Swim Neverending magic... (09 August 2008)I'll admit that I shyed away from this album initially since it's not the genre of music I'd usually listen to but after one listen I couldn't have been more impressed. The lyrics are clever and original; the melodies catchy and her voice is simply stunning. Not a day has passed where I have failed to give at least one track on this album a listen and it's hard to stop when the songs are just so magical and captivating! I love each and every song on the album but I think "Ghosts", "Captain and The Hourglass", "Failure" and "My Manic and I" are just that little bit extra special. Would also highly recommend giving "New Romantic" (which isn't on the album) a listen if you haven't done so already. A brilliant young talent (can't believe she's less than a year older than me!) but her lyrics speak beyond her years and I hope she continues to bring us these refreshingly beautiful songs. Talent to burn (29 June 2008)I usually try to be cool, focused and objective in my reviews but, for Laura Marling's debut album, I'll make an exception. 'Cool, focused and objective' can all take a backseat while their more emotional cousin 'dribbly wide-eyed adoration' takes the wheel, puts his foot down and heads for the sunlit hills. "Alas I Cannot Swim" is gorgeous, clever, moving and absolutely packed with the most exquisite melodies. If there has been a better album released in the past twelve months then, well, I for one haven't heard it. Absolutely everything works in harmony on this album. The lyrics are dark, inventive ("He wants to die in a lake in Geneva/The mountains can cover the shape of his nose") and haunting, focusing on the impossibility of everlasting love; failure; the cold comforts of religious faith and lonliness. The melodies are gorgeously beautiful in a way that's almost indecent - to put it in very blunt and simple terms 'Alas I Cannot Swim' is absolutely packed with good old fashioned tunes, at least a couple of which ('The Captain and the Hourglass' and 'Your Only Doll (Dora)') sound so catchy and elegant that you can't quite believe they haven't been around for years. Oh yes, as if that wasn't enough Laura Marling's voice is wonderful: clear, beautiful and yet with an emotional fragility that highlights the haunted depths of her lyrics. And then there's more - she's comfortable writing and performing songs in numerous different styles and tempos. From the almost pop song "Ghosts", to the tortured depths of "Night Terror" to the near sea-shanty "Crawled out of the sea (interlude)" - perhaps the most casually brilliant throw-away minute and a half of music recorded in the last year - to the melancholy ballad "The Captain and the Hourglass" Marling carries it all off with talent to burn. Enough already. If Laura Marling isn't well on her way to being recognised as a major and original talent then there is no justice in the world. She is - dribbly wide-eyed adoration coming up - absolutely fabulous. Buy the album, catch her live if you can - she is absolutely spellbinding on stage - and cherish every moment of what will hopefully be a long career. Alas I Cannot Swim - the best album I have heard for a very, very long time. "The real deal" (27 May 2008)Although Laura Marling is not courting the public or mainstream media (like other singer/songwriters see Adele, Lily Allen or Kate Nash), her voice is so strong and unique that hopefully it is only inevitable that she becomes better known and doesnt just dissappear under the tide of comercialised female singers that all sound the same and demand attention and fame. For the people who have heard her and know how good she is, it is worth having a listen to "Noah and the whale" where she adds backing vocals to some entertaining folk-pop songs. Awesome and relaxing (27 April 2008)I have an intresting music collection to say the least ranging from the likes of paramore & My chemical romance to the feeling via infernal. Thus i know a bit about modern music(not just the mainstream before you object ;)..anywho). And this album is awesome give it a few listens to sink in & your gone, she has a lovely voice and the songs are beautifully written. All round class. |
