We caught this slip of an ingenue at Union Hall on Friday. Laura Marling is a songwriting POWERHOUSE sensitive beyond her years- check the videos. Spotted in the crowd? Bumpershine, who provided my nightly dosage of witty commentary and Productshop who unleashed the information that LM is actually a member of Noah and the Whale in case anyone thought she looked familiar. So the buzz is most definitely escalating into a roar (James Iha sighting at her Sidewalk gig the following night) and I gotta say I kind of agree. Stage presence wise though…. she seemed to be focusing on an invisible friend directly past the mic. Those quirks, we assume, are gonna melt away with each consecutive gig. Oh, and we totally developed an insta-crush on her drummer Marcus ‘Panda’ Mumford. He was more than willing to show that he was much too plump to be a heroin addict, contrary to the dream that Marling shared with the audience.

YES, Laura Marling has dreams about friends being junkies and inflicting ‘kicks that burn.’ Homegirl has a dark side and it’s a bit uncomfortable at times. She’s young and fresh faced enough to sport her Mickey Mouse sweatshirt in a seemingly irony free manner, but then she stops blinking and starts spinning lyrics that talk about sex and hands on her throat and faces pushed into walls and broken dolls. I thought Disconap was going to grab her by the shoulders and give her a shake, followed by a hug reassuring her it was all going to be okay. Music as therapy? Work it out girl. Work it out. Keep an eye peeled for the upcoming release ‘Song Box’ on February 4th- same day as Hot Chip, and the day after my bday!

See videos of ‘Ghosts’ and ‘You’re No God’ after the jump!

Laura Marling : Ghosts

Laura Marling : You’re No God

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 12:19 pm and is filed under New Bands, Video, Quickie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.