“Her masterpiece”: the best 21st century folk album, according to Paul Weller
As a man of many musical influences, Paul Weller has been building modern folk music while in great company. But The Jam’s frontman found that none are sculpting the path for his present-day contemporaries as much as Laura Marling’s 2013 album.
Believed to have been born with an acoustic guitar slung over her neck, the young singer-songwriter from Hampshire had reached dazzling stardom so young she was once barred from entrance to her own gig, and proceeded to surprise her audience consecutively until releasing Once I Was An Eagle at 23.
“I think it’s her masterpiece. I’ve liked most of her records, but this is just fantastic,” Paul Weller told The Quietus. Although her style is virtuously versatile, swinging from tender to lively, her music takes a much slower tone than Weller’s, so it’s interesting to see the direction in which ‘The Modfather’ sees folk moving, “I like electricity and volume. I like the quiet acoustic thing for a bit, but not for too long. I like noise, me,” he hastened to add.
Although “quiet” for Weller standards, Once I Was An Eagle retains a strong stamina that keeps audiences expectant. Her song ‘Master Hunter’ is ambitiously Americana, but does a dutiful job at pledging homage to country music in its bubbling spirits. ‘Devil’s Resting Place’ has a rhythmic triumph thanks to an orchestra of African drums bringing her prolific lyrics alive, while keeping her loyal listeners guessing.
“The first three or four songs are almost like a suite. They just run into each other. It’s got that dark intensity. She’s a real talent,” Weller’s unblemished praise goes on. The initial phase of her album is difficult to distinguish into different tracks, but it provides a soothing listening experience that does not require one to remain vigilant at their screen to check when the song is over and when a new one begins. It simply beckons the instincts of the audience to be carried, and to keep a smooth whiskey alongside to accompany the ride.
Although her melodic introduction is stripped back, the album gradually builds up to increasingly vigorous strumming and lyrics like “I nearly put a bullet in my brain.” Weller fans might see more of a correlation as the album turns increasingly upbeat and ragged, but the tension is released after an orchestral interlude, as the tracks slowly become more pensive and nocturnal.
By the time we arrive at ‘When Were You Happy? (And How Long Has That Been)’ and ‘Little Bird’, her former Eagle self of wild strumming sheds its skin to welcome a becalmed ballad that soothes and seduces. The album’s greatness is its journey and its captivating variety, carrying the listener by the hand without ever loosening its grip.
The ragged romance with which Marling sold her image to music may have split, to make room for domestic album Patterns in Repeat, her last album, released last year. The mystic musician keeps us under her dark spell while shedding a small light on her private life by welcoming in themes of intimacy and the home, with the album having been recorded in her home studio. Despite a morphing style, Marling’s music hasn’t failed to inspire artists expanding the genre across the 21st century, and beyond, since some folk songs are timeless.
