For her seventh studio album, Songs for Our Daughter, English songwriter Laura Marling envisioned an album based around a fictional mother writing to her daughter, passing down a maternal lineage of reflection and advice on life, which was partly inspired by Maya Angelou’s collection of essays entitled, Letter to My Daughter. The resulting project becomes “a conversation between a younger version of myself and myself as I am now.”

The LP is her most ‘American’ sounding record to date; conjuring chords, harmonies, and vocal melodies reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, or Neil Young. Songs open slowly, giving way to carefully placed harmonies and textures provided by steel guitar and orchestral accompany, while Marling sings with a clairvoyant ease, always with a bittersweet, yet optimistic tone. The serenity in her voice, however, can express steadfast resolve in her trademark off-cuff manner. She sings, “Sometimes the hardest thing to learn/Is what you get from what you lose” on the song “Blow by Blow.” This honest approach serves the theme of the album well, as Marling relates hard truths to the imaginary daughter. On the title track she sings, “Lately I’ve been thinking about our daughter growing old/All of the bullshit that she might be told.” 

One of Marling’s strengths as a songwriter is writing from different perspectives to illuminate not only her personal journeys but to reflect on societal issues at large. She continues in the title track, “There’s blood on the floor/Maybe now you’ll believe her for sure,” alluding to the struggle sexual abuse survivors endure to convince others the truth. At 30 years old Marling writes with a soul that has lived a lifetime. Song for Our Daughter is yet another impressive chapter in the subtle unfurling of songwriting maturity that grows with each album.

*Originally published in Content Magazine

(Chrysalis Records)

Release Date: April 10, 2020