Laura Marling is someone I’ve listened to before but was not entirely taken with. Her first effort, “Alas I Cannot Swim”, was a little rough in ways that I didn’t entirely care for. There was quality there, but it just didn’t seem to have settled into itself. Having missed her intermediate efforts, I recently acquired “Once I Was An Eagle” as I was randomly reminded that I meant to check her out again.

Hearken to me, friends: this album is an overwhelming tide of unadulterated quality; a tsunamic wall of arrangement and lyricism the likes of which I have not seen in some time. That’s right, I used both kinds of colons, that’s the kind of serious situation we’re dealing with here.

These two make me very happy in my ear area. Worth noting, the first seven tracks of this album are basically one long song. If you use a gapless playback device, you’ll hear them flow together. It’s quite magical and may well fly beneath your notice unless you’re paying attention. What that basically means is that you’re only getting 1/7th of the experience with track one.

Go get the album. GO GET THE ALBUM.

Take The Night Off
When Were You Happy? (And How Long Has That Been)