Laura Marling - 'Alas I Cannot Swim' (Virgin) Released 11/02/08

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Laura Marling is releasing her debut album ‘Alas I Cannot Swim’ at either the perfect time or the most dangerous time. With Adele and Amy MacDonald having recently released material and the eagerly anticipated album from Welsh artist Duffy around the corner, Marling must find a way to rise above her contemporaries. Unfortunately, her record looks likely to get forgotten rather than flourish among the competition.

Having just turned eighteen, her dive into womanhood is noted with the pleasurable yet woeful nostalgia that lies within her charming debut. The acoustic premise twisted folk texture and dark country melody mean there is something that yearns to be understood here. A quirky folky opening to ‘Ghosts’ delicately and deliberately leads into the aching chorus that is backed with careful harmonies and excels with a patiently gathering drumbeat.

Her meaning and substance have a continual consistency with intriguing natural exploitation of sound, most notably on ‘Your Only Doll’ and the isolated rainfall on a window that marries the yearning of ‘Old Stone’ into the simple if not bland ‘Tap At My Window’. The latter may have served better without the clichéd orchestra and unnecessary percussion that rather deters from the soft enticing vocals.

The active instrumental accompaniments do at times confine certain songs rather then lifting them from the ordinary to the astounding. The pop countryish Amy Mcdonald-esque ‘You’re No God’ provides a start for a series of lively numbers including the playful and youthful sound of ‘Cross Your Fingers’ that ironically asks: “Jump into your grave and die,” before stating, “Cross your fingers hold your toes/we’re all going to die when the building blows.” Menacing and charismatic as it is, there is something far more endearing about this moment on the album than the five before and six that follow.

The enchanted mystical fantasy of ‘My Manic And I’ derives from a palpable logic to go against the obvious, and it is these instances that if capitalised on would have made this such a more appealing and memorable record.

It is disappointing that there are limited positive things to speak of for Marling’s introductory effort. That is not to say that there aren’t gratifying flashes of intelligence and talent. At eighteen Marling has the world at her feet and constant ambition and a continual desire to perfect her craft will turn her 3 star reviews into 4’s and 5’s, and more importantly to her, guarantee the recognition she will likely miss out on this time.