Cross your fingers and hold your toes...

Nowadays, in the saturated singer/songwriter market, it takes more than a nice voice/a quite good song/a good-looking video to effectively grab attention from me. There are just so many around today that if the first one or two tracks didn't impress me, I'd move on, which is kinda harsh but that's just the way it goes. UK indie-folk darling Laura Marling used to fall into this unfortunate category. I heard a couple of her early singles, found them quite alright but nothing outstanding, and I wasn't patient enough to let them grow, so I passed. Months later, she had a new single out and I again gave it a try out of curiosity. And finally, she has wisely released 'the song'. 'The song' that managed to get me this time. 'The song' I can see myself coming back to regularly. That song is 'Cross Your Fingers'. I know this comparison won't do it justice, but her voice sounds like a cross between Keren Ann's and Regina Spektor's, subdued and silky. And the lyrics are among the most optimistic I ever heard yet.* What makes the video special (beside the stopmotion tricks as usual) is that it incorporates 2 songs (the other one being an interlude) seamlessly, which clearly works, as now I can only the two in pair. It's a great song, though, so if you missed her like me, try this.



Laura Marling - Cross Your Fingers
Laura Marling - Crawled Out Of The Sea (Interlude)


Actually, my interest in her was first regained when she sang on Mystery Jets' single 'Young Love', which came so close to being the 2008 'Young Folks', but fell short because the chorus sounds unfinished and lacking a little bit of something to me. Anyhow, overall it's a lovely song that's also worth corking an ear to.


Mystery Jets - Young Love (feat. Laura Marling)


Her debut 'Alas, I Cannot Swim' is out now. And here's her MySpace. And yes, I'm truly back this time. Well, I hope.



*no it's nothing of the sort. rather the opposite.