Something To Defend

Laura Marling “Strange Girl”

Laura Marling sings with tone that suggests total clarity of mind, as though it would be a waste of her time to write from a perspective of uncertainty. “Strange Girl” is a character sketch of a young woman struggling to get by in a harsh economy that’s rigged against her, and while Marling conveys a lot of warmth and affection for her, she avoids romanticizing her or indulging her vanities. “Please don’t bullshit me,” she sings at the end of the third verse, her voice shifting from soft to blunt to emphasize the “shit” syllable. She’s not trying to call her out, but rather just get across that she doesn’t need to work so hard to get her empathy. The song is easy going and loose, and subtle in its graces – the structure is pretty straight forward and doesn’t offer much flair until near the end where she offers two different lovely bridges in a row before falling back into the chorus.

Buy it from Amazon.