Laura Marling
Songs for our Daughters
Album Review
The beautifully progressive seventh studio album from singer-songwriter Laura Marling reveals an aged wisdom. Through her acoustic guitar, eloquent melodies and winding narratives, Songs for our Daughters expresses a deep desire to protect and arm the next generation of young women.
ritish born Marling’s 8-tracks soulfully demands our young daughters question the bullshit they might be told as they strive throughout their lives. The title track rethinks what the older generation of women put up with, and what we need to do to change this. “With your clothes on the floor, taking advice from some old balding bore. You’ll ask yourself, did I want this at all?” Marling questions.
Like much of the album, which was released four months early due to Covid-19, Marling is commanding a shift of our perspective. Alexandra laments the greatest of female taboos – walking away from family – in search of your own adventure. The song is partly a response to Leonard Cohen’s 2001 Alexandra Leaving. In his version, the protagonist serves as a vessel to his feelings. In this contemporary shift, Alexandra “pulls her sock up to her knees.” She “finds diamonds in the drain. One more diamond to add to her chain.“ A notable rethink to the female perspective, perhaps also a nod to all the men Alexandra collects along her journey.
Like much of the album, which was released four months early due to Covid-19, Marling is commanding a shift of our perspective. Alexandra laments the greatest of female taboos – walking away from family – in search of your own adventure. The song is partly a response to Leonard Cohen’s 2001 Alexandra Leaving. In his version, the protagonist serves as a vessel to his feelings. In this contemporary shift, Alexandra “pulls her sock up to her knees.” She “finds diamonds in the drain. One more diamond to add to her chain.“ A notable rethink to the female perspective, perhaps also a nod to all the men Alexandra collects along her journey.