Laura Marling – Song for Our Daughter

It’s been three years since Laura Marling’s last release, Semper Femina, which was the now veteran songwriter’s sixth album in almost as many years. The gap between albums resonates in the meditative feel of Song for Our Daughter. Marling explores topics ranging from motherhood to the instability of a creative career, and many obstacles one could encounter in life, all the while guiding us through with her calm and melodic tone.

Despite the complexity of the lyrics, Song for our Daughter appears effortless. With a voice that is both breezy and sincere, reminiscent of a young Joni Mitchell, Marling instructs her imaginary daughter (to whom the album is addressed), to stay calm amidst the turbulence of life. Marling recently turned 30, but sings with a wisdom beyond her years. Perhaps this is in part because she has been at this for a deceptively long time, having appeared on the scene in the early 2000s. She’s been producing music of a high calibre for nearly a decade, culminating in a Grammy nomination in 2017.

Marling is an intelligent songwriter – Semper Femina was a concept album that took its title from a poem by Virgil – and Song for Our Daughter is no different. The lyrics are sincere reflections on relationships and what it means to navigate the modern world as a woman. Song for Our Daughter is intimate and intensely personal. Its subject matter is coupled with simple, emotive arrangements, all picked guitars and pared-back strings.

Expertly produced by Marling’s longtime collaborators Ethan Johns and Dom Monks, the album begins with Alexandra, whose lyrical repetition and gentle strumming is classic Marling territory, and we think we know what we are in for. The tempo builds for the following tracks, including the almost country Strange Girl. But it is when the music fades into the background that Marling’s lyrical intelligence comes to the fore. Fortune and the title track have an emotional, haunting beauty.

Song for Our Daughter was originally set for release in August, but Marling has brought the release date forward in the hope that it may give comfort amidst “the chaos of living”. In these trying times, there is surely none better than Marling to help guide us through.

Emily Harrison

Song for Our Daughter is released on 10^th April 2020. For further information or to order the album visit Laura Marling’s website here.

Watch the trailer for the album here: