by Cara McClain

Amid the gimmicky pop music flooding the radio and topping the iTune’s charts, Laura Marling’s third album which came out Sept. 13 provides a much needed sense of simplicity and honesty to our current music. She has always been a go to for me on those days when all other music rings falsely happy and overly complicated in my ears.

When overwhelmed by songs dripping in cliches about the sickly sweetness of first love, Marling’s lyrics tackle more complicated, nuanced feelings in a slightly depressing and refreshingly honest way. She laments feeling “full of guilt” and in her typical self-deprecating way admits, “Oh Lord, am I low” (“My Friends,” “Don’t Ask Me Why”).

Listening to “A Creature I Don’t Know,” is like watching the progression of a relationship. In the beginning, she begs, “You know what I need/Why won’t you giveth me?/Must I fall down at your feet and plead?” (“The Muse”). In another song, Marling asks, “Would you watch my body weaken and my mind drift away?” (“Night After Night”). She wants commitment, she wants to be with this man until she grows old. Predictably, Marling includes plenty of songs about heartbreak, most apparently in “The Beast,” which seems to chronicle the end of a relationship. She opens half singing half whispering, “Where did our love go” which would feel trite with any other artist but works for Marling.

With the lyrics on par with the quality of her other albums, Marling’s music sounds simply nice. Unlike some of her contemporaries, she writes, sings and plays straightforwardly without any pretension. In no way has Marling let herself or her music get washed up in the chaos of semi-celebrity life like other current musicians. She keeps her music simple and clean, sophisticated and minimalistic.

Still true to her folk style, Laura Marling’s “A Creature I Don’t Know” is another excellent album from an excellent artist.