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Laura Marling - "Blackberry Stone"
Take a listen. It's difficult believing Laura Marling just turned 18 this year, but it's true: The assured, sharp British folk-pop singer-songwriter's full-length debut Alas, I Cannot Swim, which came out in the UK in February, is just getting its Stateside debut this summer (its out via iTunes now, Astralwerks in August). In this week's Drop we have "Blackberry Stone," a haunting, lo-fi UK B-side you won't find on the album proper. We asked Marling a few questions about the track.
Can you give some background on the song? I recently moved and for the first time in ages I've been able to have my mics and recording gear set up all the time, so I've been messing around with a sound for the next album ... and so came "Blackberry Stone."
Do you consider it different than the songs that ended up on Alas, I Cannot Swim? Yes, it's in the same mindset as the songs I have been writing recently, as opposed to the songs I was writing at the time of the first album.
Is the song about a specific person/situation or is it a hybrid? Or a fictional narrative? It is whatever it is to whoever listens to it. I couldn't possibly say ... Sorry, lame answer, I know.
Either way, what's the significance of the blackberry stone? The song itself is pretty self explanatory, but it is quite vast on whatever that emotion is of loss, and I wanted the song to resolve into something small and simple that I adore as much as whatever it is that was lost.
In your mind, what makes a good love or falling-out-of-love song? Something that can't be used in a a hollywood rom com.
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Alas I Cannot Swim is out now on iTunes and 8/18 via Astralwerks. This song isn't on it. If you're in the NYC area, you can catch Marling 6/16 at Glasslands in Brooklyn and 6/18 at the Mercury Lounge.
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