Laura Marling

Lee’s Palace
Cost: $13.50
Hand Stamp: LEE’S
February 09, 2010

The demand to see Ms. Laura Marling must have been quite high in Toronto considering her show was originally booked at The Drake with a capacity of a cramped 200 people and was bumped up to Lee’s Palace with a capacity two times the size. While The Drake seems like it would have been a better suited venue for Marling’s folk, mostly acoustic songs. When Marling appeared on stage with her long brunette hair piled atop her head, it was quite the contrast to her usual short blonde bob. This was also the reason I didn’t notice her as she walked right past me just before she went on stage. Opening with the title track off her forthcoming 2010 album, I Speak because I Can Marling along with her backing three-piece band and guitar player from The Wheel performed Devil’s Spoke, the banjo and drum heavy single with deeply poetic lyrics. Marling’s album, Alas I Cannot Swim was an impressive start, but none of the tracks were quite like Devil’s Spoke demonstrating an old soul that goes far beyond her twenty years. Marling then addressed the audience reflecting on the last time she was in Toronto in October 2008, on the same night as the Nuit Blanche art festival. The Hampshire, England native then joked, “It is fricking cold here…I’m actually worried about you all getting home.” Prompting one audience member to respond, “We’ll stay here all night with you, Laura.” She then transitioned into two more “newer than new” songs, Rambling Man and I Speak because I Can.

After revisiting some tracks from Alas I Cannot Swim, including an impressive through-the teeth whistling interlude in lieu of a fiddle on Night Terror the preview of the new album continued with Goodbye England (Covered in Snow) which Marling felt was especially appropriate for this snowy evening in Toronto. Followed by a rendition of Neil Young’s The Needle and the Damage Done, which Marling told the crowd was the first cover song she learned to play, taught to her by her ‘padre Marling’ and mistaken as an original song by her mother, despite the fact that, “It’s about heroine.” Rest in my Bed, Marling explained was written for a movie, and sadly was rejected. She asked the audience to guess what the movie was, prompting others to respond, “Twilight!” No Hope in the Air was quite lovely live; too bad the clanging of beer bottles from the back of the bar stole some of the softer moments.

Drawing the evening to a close, Marling presented the audience with an option: if they wanted an encore, the next song would be the second-to-last song, and if they didn’t, it would be the last. To overwhelming applause, there were indeed two songs. Ending with Alas I Cannot Swim, Marling had a “sudden case of the giggles”, but this short interruption only made the songstress appear more charming. While Marling performed a great selection of songs from her first album, it was even better to get a preview of songs from the forthcoming album.