Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim (2008) / AvaxHome

Due to her youth (16 when she first hit Myspace, 17 when signed to an imprint of EMI, and 18 when her debut album came out), perky-cute looks and extremely British diction, singer/songwriter Laura Marling got a lot of comparisons to Lily Allen in her early buzz, but the quietly compelling Alas I Cannot Swim is not at all a frothy pop confection. A folk-tinged AAA pop record based on Marling's alluringly husky voice and graceful acoustic guitar, Alas I Cannot Swim would be more aptly compared to the likes of Feist, Keren Ann, or Regina Spektor. (In the album's press kit, Marling reveals her primary influence to be Bonnie "Prince" Billy, which also seems appropriate.) Although not to draw too forbidding a comparison, opening track and first single "Ghosts" is most strongly reminiscent of Joni Mitchell circa For the Roses, both in Marling's expressive vocal phrasing and the expert shifts in the arrangement between solo acoustic passages and full-band sections, not to mention an excellently deployed string section. That old-school '70s singer/songwriter vibe predominates throughout the album, in fact. There's one straight-up pop song here, the deceptively chipper-sounding "Cross Your Fingers" ("…hold your toes/We're all gonna die when the building blows" continues the sweetly sung chorus), but aside from that, Alas I Cannot Swim is the kind of album that takes a couple of listens for its charms to completely sink in. Rather than swath every track in prominent, ear-grabbing hooks, Marling and producer Charlie Fink choose to keep the decorations off in the distance on songs like "The Captain and Hourglass," where swells of pedal steel stay buried deep in the mix under Marling's hypnotic guitar line and quietly insistent vocals. There's every chance that Laura Marling will get lost in the shuffle as the unexpected commercial success of Feist's The Reminder leads major labels to unleash hordes of similarly talented female singer/songwriters, but Alas I Cannot Swim is far better than the average coffee house-endorsed girly pop.

Review by Stewart Mason, Allmusic.com

To go by this debut, which was written well before she turned 18 last week, Laura Marling's "adolescence" was essentially a protracted period of soaking up Joni Mitchell and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The unnervingly grown-up Alas I Cannot Swim is the result, and if it doesn't install her as the heir to the likes of Devendra Banhart, there's no hope for folk-pop. Simplicity is the key: playing acoustic guitar and singing in a gentle verge-of-womanhood voice, she keeps things homespun and rootsy. Background noises are unedited, and her laughter at the end of Tap at My Window has been preserved. But most impressive is her ability to articulate heartbreak: the album abounds with delicately chiselled observations such as, "The ring on my finger slips to the ground, a gift to the gutter," which mark her as a lyricist to watch. Remarkable, coming from someone so young.

Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian

Laura Marling at Allmusic
Laura Marling at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. Ghosts (3:01)
02. Old Stone (2:59)
03. Tap At My Window (2:48)
04. Failure (3:21)
05. You're No Good (2:28)
06. Cross Your Fingers (2:24)
07. Crawled Out Of The Sea (Interlude) (1:16)
08. My Manic And I (3:56)
09. Night Terror (3:09)
10. The Captain And The Hourglass (3:10)
11. Shine (2:39)
12. Your Only Doll (Dora) (7:19)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 8. April 2009, 21:04

Laura Marling / Alas I Cannot Swim

Used drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7173S Adapter: 5 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:00.72 | 0 | 13571
2 | 3:00.72 | 2:59.01 | 13572 | 26997
3 | 5:59.73 | 2:47.56 | 26998 | 39578
4 | 8:47.54 | 3:21.28 | 39579 | 54681
5 | 12:09.07 | 2:27.70 | 54682 | 65776
6 | 14:37.02 | 2:23.50 | 65777 | 76551
7 | 17:00.52 | 1:16.30 | 76552 | 82281
8 | 18:17.07 | 3:56.13 | 82282 | 99994
9 | 22:13.20 | 3:09.27 | 99995 | 114196
10 | 25:22.47 | 3:09.41 | 114197 | 128412
11 | 28:32.13 | 2:38.73 | 128413 | 140335
12 | 31:11.11 | 7:18.53 | 140336 | 173238

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Documents and Settings\user\Рабочий стол\Alas I Cannot Swim\Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim.wav

Peak level 95.5 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 0800FB4D
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [3C928471]
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [0AFB1533]
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [F265E0E6]
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [3FC84B4C]
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [CA91E57F]
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [133232B0]
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [917FDD70]
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [DA959505]
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [A57578B5]
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [300EE9F3]
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 18) [F198DE68]
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 19) [EF36BCF0]

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

AR log

[CUETools log; Date: 16.03.2018 1:38:15; Version: 2.1.4]
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Track | CTDB Status
1 | (216/217) Accurately ripped
2 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
3 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
4 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
5 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
6 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
7 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
8 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
9 | (216/217) Accurately ripped
10 | (216/217) Accurately ripped
11 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
12 | (217/217) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 000f7f46-00914096-9a09050c] found.
Track [ CRC | V2 ] Status
01 [3c928471|d8bc0784] (071+079/362) Accurately ripped
02 [0afb1533|5d0bf160] (071+079/364) Accurately ripped
03 [f265e0e6|6537c565] (071+079/363) Accurately ripped
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10 [300ee9f3|6171b548] (070+079/362) Accurately ripped
11 [f198de68|3c7561ab] (070+078/362) Accurately ripped
12 [ef36bcf0|d9064961] (069+076/358) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by -664:
01 [c0123225] (062/362) Accurately ripped
02 [06fdee7a] (063/364) Accurately ripped
03 [d188a192] (063/363) Accurately ripped
04 [bfa07d05] (062/362) Accurately ripped
05 [f025ff87] (063/363) Accurately ripped
06 [a0ebfd51] (063/365) Accurately ripped
07 [ea41ba0b] (062/361) Accurately ripped
08 [570b5033] (063/361) Accurately ripped
09 [c8314014] (062/362) Accurately ripped
10 [38a003d0] (062/362) Accurately ripped
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Offsetted by -42:
01 [ce4112ba] (005/362) Accurately ripped
02 [a89b442d] (005/364) Accurately ripped
03 [25224c4b] (005/363) Accurately ripped
04 [9818afc8] (005/362) Accurately ripped
05 [2bca4ced] (005/363) Accurately ripped
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07 [ad50ec8d] (005/361) Accurately ripped
08 [47e0602b] (005/361) Accurately ripped
09 [9bc937af] (005/362) Accurately ripped
10 [e64fb3ed] (005/362) Accurately ripped
11 [49c52dd7] (005/362) Accurately ripped
12 [ab91260f] (005/358) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by -706:
01 [201af28e] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
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05 [515e66f5] (000/363) No match (V2 was not tested)
06 [1053c7b7] (000/365) No match (V2 was not tested)
07 [f408b182] (000/361) No match (V2 was not tested)
08 [1c370f1f] (000/361) No match (V2 was not tested)
09 [44c575ea] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
10 [1b9a117c] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
11 [9132b9ae] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
12 [c6694e1b] (000/358) No match (V2 was not tested)
Offsetted by -12:
01 [611f1f8b] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
02 [5fc2de1c] (000/364) No match (V2 was not tested)
03 [e335a2d8] (000/363) No match (V2 was not tested)
04 [ebb3e807] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
05 [2f7d70c3] (000/363) No match (V2 was not tested)
06 [3552fd6e] (000/365) No match (V2 was not tested)
07 [06e0bcc8] (000/361) No match (V2 was not tested)
08 [4d6ea935] (000/361) No match (V2 was not tested)
09 [635462de] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
10 [a09d6028] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
11 [b9bbaebf] (000/362) No match (V2 was not tested)
12 [b9e2012d] (000/358) No match (V2 was not tested)

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 95,5 [0800FB4D] [180E7200] CRC32
01 94,5 [2E6C97FD] [60EAC29F]
02 93,3 [0F92EDD4] [190C0417]
03 95,5 [C82BB38A] [9391D4EF]
04 95,5 [7884F0A7] [FC5BEE8C]
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10 95,5 [E99977FF] [2309ED0B]
11 77,5 [BA8826CD] [F55433F9]
12 95,5 [202C81E1] [75CC59C7]

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-03-16 03:31:53

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Laura Marling / Alas I Cannot Swim
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR9 -0.48 dB -13.91 dB 3:01 01-Ghosts
DR8 -0.60 dB -13.43 dB 2:59 02-Old Stone
DR9 -0.40 dB -14.01 dB 2:48 03-Tap At My Window
DR9 -0.40 dB -12.70 dB 3:21 04-Failure
DR9 -0.40 dB -12.45 dB 2:28 05-You're No Good
DR9 -0.40 dB -11.99 dB 2:24 06-Cross Your Fingers
DR7 -0.40 dB -11.05 dB 1:16 07-Crawled Out Of The Sea (Interlude)
DR9 -0.40 dB -12.62 dB 3:56 08-My Manic And I
DR7 -0.40 dB -11.11 dB 3:09 09-Night Terror
DR8 -0.40 dB -11.23 dB 3:10 10-The Captain And The Hourglass
DR10 -2.21 dB -16.99 dB 2:39 11-Shine
DR13 -0.40 dB -17.53 dB 7:19 12-Your Only Doll (Dora)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 12
Official DR value: DR9

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 809 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

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