Laura Marling 'Alas I Cannot Swim' album

Mercury Music Prize nominee Laura Marling, the acclaimed 18-year old English singer/songwriter, has announced plans for her very first US tour – the FEE FIE FOE FUM tour. Having met with rapturous audiences in New York City, Los Angeles and Austin earlier this year Laura already has a burgeoning US fan base, but these upcoming shows mark her first coast-to-coast jaunt. She’ll be joined by Lost Highway recording artist Johnny Flynn, a fellow Englishman whose album Tickle Me Pink is out now. These special co-headline dates are a chance to catch two of Britain’s most promising young musicians on their very first American tour. UK folksters Mumford & Sons are opening all below tour dates.

Laura Marling wrote and recorded her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim at the age of 17 and has since watched it snowball into one of the most critically acclaimed British albums of the year and was recently nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize. Released in the UK in February, it’ll be made available on CD in the US from August 19th on Astralwerks Records. The album was made available from digital retailers last month.

tour dates
9/13 Boston, MA @ ICC Church
9/15 NYC, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
9/17 Philadelphia, PA @ The Side Chapel
9/18 Alexandria, VA @ The Birchmere
9/20 Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge
9/21 Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Club
9/23 Denver, CO @ The Falcon
9/26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Hotel Cafe
9/28 San Francisco, CA @ The Cafe du Nord
9/30 Portland, OR @ Lola's
10/01 Seattle, WA @ The Tractor Tavern
10/03 Montreal, Canada @ O Patro Vys
10/04 Toronto, Canada @ Rivoli

press quotes
Early US praise for Laura Marling:

“A slight, pale young woman from Eversley, England…Marling works in the bleak and articulate tradition of English folksingers like Richard Thompson and Anne Briggs, though I also hear the urgent cadence of Fiona Apple in several songs. One of Marling’s gifts is an ability to find music in the rhythms of speech.”- Sasha Frere Jones in The New Yorker

“Ms. Marling has learned more than tunes from the British ballad tradition. She has also absorbed its absence of self-pity and its determination to chronicle sorrows as clearly as joys, calmly outlasting them all.” - Jon Pareles in The New York Times

“The 18-year-old Marling is becoming known for a silvery, strong voice, a clear-eyed comprehension of the world.” – NPR’s Morning Edition

“Alas I Cannot Swim has rightfully drawn comparisons to Carole King and Joni Mitchell in their respective heydays. It's smart folk-rock with complex, insightful lyrics and blessedly varied instrumentation -- full and lush in some places, deliberate and spare in others.” – Paper Magazine

“A riveting set of songs” – Vanity Fair

biography
Laura Marling may still be young, but she certainly isn’t the latest cutesy pop-puppet on the block. At just 17-years-old, this former small town girl doesn’t merely sing about what’s to be expected from someone her age- love, lust and romance. The futility of religion, self-loathing and human psychology are also common themes in her provocative, extremely mature creations.

An Alt Folk star in the ascendant whose striking melodies and wise-beyond-her-years vocals could melt even the iciest of hearts, Laura Marling muddles the strength of Regina Spektor with the intelligence of Carole King and the acoustic lushness of Joni Mitchell. She began playing the guitar at the age of three when her father first taught her the blues in front of the family fire and has been in thrall to the songs and lyrics of the likes of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and John Mayall ever since.

Laura’s already hugely popular with Britiain’s indie’s big hitters; Jamie T personally invited her on tour with him last year after being hugely impressed by her gorgeous modern folk-pop when he caught her playing just her second ever gig. More recently, collaborations on The Rakes and The Mystery Jet’s new albums have been keeping Laura busy.

Laura’s first real gig took place in February 2006 opening for Howard Jones. At her debut, she masterfully played four songs to a room of 300 devoted, not to mention heavily tattooed, Howard Jones uber-fans and quickly won each and every one of them over with her classy brand of delicate country-tinged tunes. After the Howard Jones-assisted debut, Laura gigged with Jack Penate, Rufus Wainwright, South London soul singer Adele, Fear of Flying, Video Nasties, Grant Lee Phillips and, most recently, Devendra Banhart to rapt crowds across the UK.

A year after her first show and with two EPs and a couple of headline tours under her belt, Laura has just finished recording her debut album, Alas I Cannot Swim and played in Ireland for the first time with friends Marcus Mumford and Charlie Fink.

Be prepared to be seduced by the fresh face of folk.

Debut album Alas I Cannot Swim is released in August 2008.

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Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim