March 30, 2015

Laura Marling Just Keeps Getting Better


Laura Marling
Short Movie
Ribbon Music

With her clear, forthright voice and ringing acoustic guitar (not to mention enormous songwriting smarts), Britain’s Laura Marling has always been a bit intimidating, and this stunning fifth album may be her strongest work yet. Short Movie is an extended meditation on the endless tug of war between the fear of loneliness and the desire to be free from the affections and expectations of others. “Is it still okay that I don’t know how to be alone?” she asks in “False Hope,” while “I Feel Your Love” finds her declaring, “You must let me go before I get old / I need to find someone who really wants to be mine,” throwing cold water on romantic clichés with her usual blunt vigor. In “Don’t Let Me Bring You Down,” she exclaims, “Did you think I was fucking around?” Another cut, “Howl,” finds her parting from a lover in far gentler fashion. Short Movie varies its textures with occasional drums and electric guitar, as well as lovely dashes of cello, but Marling’s restless, relentlessly honest songs remain the main attraction. Despite superficial similarities to the young Joni Mitchell, she’s her own amazing creation, and just keeps getting better.

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And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

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In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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