Laura Marling - Semper Femina

Rating:

Marling is artful at remaining cloaked.

Womanhood is a topic that Laura Marling embraces; her sixth album takes its title from an excerpt from Virgil‘s poem Aeneid - “varium et mutabile semper femina” - meaning “woman is always a fickle and changeable thing.” She reclaimed this phrase and took ‘Semper Femina’ (‘Always a Woman’) for her art, even getting the phrase inked on her thigh.

She sings in narratives throughout, but there is always a longing to discover something. Atop the palm-muted notes of ‘Always This Way’, she ponders: “I’d like to know if she had to go / or if she made a point to.”

More questions are asked on the melodically finger-picked ‘Wild Once’, about a time forgotten, where “You will sit down to explain it / And you’re constantly asking ‘Why?’”