2022 Charity Shop Purchases # 5 Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
Laura Marling is on of those (many) artists that I probably would never consider buying anything new by but would always pick up anything by either second hand or via a charity shop.
A Creature I Don't Know is her third album from 2011 on Virgin and joins its two predecessors on the shelves. It was purchased alongside yesterday's First Aid offering and quite probably handed in by the same person.
She is the darling of what has been described as the Nu Folk scene which was very popular around 10 years ago with artists such as Noah and the Whale and Mumford and Sons. Come back! She is much better than them.
I've previously written that her songs can be both sparse and intense and yet also somewhat quirky at the same time.I quite like it but it is definitely not something you could listen to all the time.For me it is more music to dip in and out of.
Salinas was inspired by a book about John Steinbeck rather than where Kris Kristofferson let Bobby McGee slip away. According to Wiki literature is one of the theses of the album alongside "love, rage, desire, family, devils, angels, devotion, betrayal and the roles women play". That's most bases covered then.
Like you I collect Laura's albs 2nd hand and have most of them and agree with your summary that she's a dip into artist. Saw Noah and the Whale a couple of times at Sheffield Leadmill - first off playing their rather wonderful debut alb but, having persuaded my wife that she'd really like them, the next occasion coincided with the release of lead singer Charlie Fink's breakup (with Marling) album which they played in its entirety. It was a wholly depressing experience and my wife still glowers at me to this day about how awful it was. I gave up on them after that.
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