British singer-songwriter Laura Marling announced her long-anticipated third lp, A Creature I Don’t Know, a couple of weeks ago and earlier this week she shared the album details for the record. A Creature I Don’t Know will be released on September 13 via Virgin Records and it’ll be produced by Ethan Johns, and you can view the tracklist below and album cover above.
Marling’s image seems to change slightly with every record, from callow youth to brunette ingenue and now world-wearied and wised up. Her voice has aged and grown richer with her, the more lived-in vocal of I Speak Because I Can now developing into something earthier and far, far beyond her years (not too far past 21). With maturity comes great responsibility towards your songwriting, and on first listen that’s something she’s capable too of facing up to. As with the last album it was recorded in a room by Ethan Johns, meaning it develops as it goes not in the heavy-handed Mumfords crescendo sense but steadily growing strings, multi-tracked backing vocals and Marling coming to terms with her emotions. Three minutes it breaks into a trot of west coast folk-rock of a thankfully restrained hue and then we’re talking, not to mention looking forward to September’s A Creature I Don’t Know.
Laura Marling’s third lp was originally scheduled for release last year, but the touring in support of her second album I Speak Because I Can which was released last year came in the way. Her third record will be called A Creature I Don’t Know and while the title has been known for a while today the album was officially announced with a September release scheduled - according to The Line Of Best Fit the exact release date will be September 12 and the album will be released on Virgin Records. Considering the sheer quality of I Speak Because I Can and the excellent album preview which was released today I’m beyond excited about this, especially considering that Ethan Johns is producing it.
The track Sophia:
The delicate opening chords and the lyrics, which speak of a lover’s betrayal and the aftermath of an unfulfilling one night stand (“Who’s been touching my skin?/ Who have I been letting in?/ Shy and tired eyed am I today”) sound bound up in the same rum, post-coital world of ‘I Speak Because I Can’. But very quickly, the track grows wings and flies out of the shadowy hinterlands of that album. Electric guitars, a string quartet and multi-tracked Lauras swoop in, suggesting a new sturdiness and defiance in the singer’s outlook.
Soon after the track mutates into a kind of country-rock anthem. Jangly guitars hip-pop next to each other, whilst Marling’s harmonies shimmer Linda Ronstadt-like all the while intoning the name of the song’s heroine.

Track List:

01. The Muse
02. I Was Just A Card
03. Don’t Ask Me Why
04. Salinas
05. The Beast
06. Night After Night
07. My Friends
08. Rest In the Bed
09. Sophia
10. All My Rage

Download links: