Laura Marling – ‘Master Hunter’

I’d kinda forgotten how good Laura Marling was until a few weeks ago when I saw her perform at Other Voices London. On the night she performed with only slight accompaniment of one player, but she didn’t really need anyone but herself. She commanded the room over the course of a short five-song set featuring songs from her new album Once I Was An Eagle. That title seems to reference Bill Callahan Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle but ‘Master Hunter’, her new single very obviously references Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’. The song finds Marling in carousing traditional folk form, moving her voice around in a few styles and ranges from spoken ire to steely resolve with lyrics like “You can get me on the telephone but you won’t keep me there” and “wrestling with the rope from darkness is no fucking life that I would choose.” It’s Marling (who is only 23 still) at her most headstrong.