Sunday, March 09, 2008
Straight into my arms...
It's amazing how easy it is to slip into obsession. Since Laura Marling's beautiful songbox arrived at my door (and then another one for my flatmate), my flat has been filled with the dangerously dark and sweet sounds of Laura's voice. Luckily the other two flatmates like it, otherwise there'd be some serious issues. The whole thing is beautifully crafted; the album itself flows so perfectly, the order is just right; the songbox is a colourful, quality, oversize trinket of treasures, but this gig was something else.
Union Chapel is the ideal location to see someone with a sound as delicate as Laura Marling's. It is perfectly preserved, classic and not too ornate, grand but not overstated. the acoustics were sublime and the sound guys had it just right. Laura played the album, almost in order and skipping two tracks. With the album so perfectly strucutred, the setlist took the audience on a similarly perfect journey. Laura was noticably more confident than at previous gigs, but still shyed away from eye contact, focusing intently on delivering her songs. After saying that she and her band would incorporate their encore into their set, the crowd gave such a long applause that she came back out to do an impromptu cover of Kimya Dawson's Five Years, which was most excellent.
The songbox idea worked well in practice; only those who bought the song box got to go to a gig. Therefore everyone at the gigs knew and engaged with the album, appreciated the momentos and were respectfully quiet while she was playing. Of course, curious people wanting to check her out would miss the boat - you'd have to make that £20 committment from the outset, but it was well worth it in the end.
posted by Unknown at 3/09/2008 12:28:00 pm
1 Comments:
said...
Ah, so that's what that cover version was. I memorised a couple of lines, but failed to Google them straight away when I got home and then had forgotten them by the following morning. Thanks!
