laura marling :: alas i cannot swim

seventeen year old reading, england native laura marling will see her debut album, alas i cannot swim, set loose next month. consider it recommended. her literate & fluid songs display a deft self-awareness - "i'm sorry to whichever man should meet my sorry state, watch my steady, lonesome gait and be aware" - that belies her age, and yet are infused with such a wit as to keep them from devolving into the standard (& dreaded) woe-is-love tales.

kelefa sanneh of the ny times writes of marling, "her strummed-and-murmured songs seem confessional, as if she's telling too much. but she's cannier and cagier than she first sounds, and her best songs... deliver bad (and, less often, good) news with a shrug." and that seems to me pretty spot on.

have a listen to a couple tracks scheduled to appear on alas i cannot swim:

laura marling - new romantic
laura marling - my manic & i

marling will play american gigs - in new york (of course) and hoboken (naturally) - for the first time in the next few weeks. dates and details on her myspace page.