Favourite Albums of 2017 #8 Laura Marling - Semper Femina

There’s a school of thought out there that Laura Marling is the definition of consistency. If you look at the reviews for her records you’ll struggle to find much negativity. Yet after 2008’s Alas I Cannot Swim and 2010’s I Speak Because I Can I’ve struggled with her albums as a whole; they just didn’t connect.

Semper Femina is a different storey however. When Laura first started releasing music, the standard cliché to roll out was that she was ‘mature beyond her years’. Thankfully now she’s past her mid-twenties that sentence seems to have stopped, yet ironically this is arguably the most mature record she has produced. It’s a record about lost love, lessons learnt and looking back with the focus strongly on womanhood. It’s all sung with Laura’s trademark calm delivery and whilst much of the record sticks to her folk traditions it also takes some bold steps in other directions to create some of the finest songs she has ever recorded. 

The opening track and lead single, Soothing is just one such example, with its sensual jazzy double bass and swelling strings creating something that’s a long way from what we’d define folk music to be. The delivery reminds me a little bit of Portishead, something which crops up again on Don’t Pass Me By, the uneasy guitar and soft beats similar to something you might have found on Dummy.

Everything Marling does on Semper Femina is beautifully nuanced with a real attention to detail, both lyrically and musically. A number of the songs on it are my favourite pieces she has ever performed. Any superlatives that are thrown at Semper Femina are fully justified. It's why she's back on my albums of the year list after a gap of seven years.

Laura Marling - Soothing

New Music: Laura Marling - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Of all the artists that came forward from the British ‘New Folk’ scene a few years ago Laura Marling is arguably the most enduring. With six albums now under her belt, the latest Semper Fermina, released earlier this year, is undoubtedly my favourite since her first two. 

To finish off the year Laura delivers a cover of A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall by Bob Dylan which Laura tackles with some gusto, building to a rather stirring finish. This will probably upset the Dylan obsessives amongst you, but I prefer Laura’s version to his, but then maybe that’s just because I’ve always struggled with Dylan’s whine. 

The song featured in the BBC show Peaky Blinders.

Laura Marling - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

New Music: Laura Marling - Wild Fire

It’s inevitable that any artist that creates a sustained body of work is going to produce songs or albums that sometimes find less favour with fans than other records. I’m sure even the most hardened David Bowie admirer would agree that he produced a few duffers and whilst the phrase purple patch probably has more meaning than normal for Prince, there are some of his records that those who love his music are less keen on. So it is with Laura Marling who, if I’m honest, I fell out of love with on her last record Short Movie. However, this is all part of being a fan. Sometimes you have to endure the lows to really appreciate the highs and when Marling returned with the gorgeous and spellbinding Soothing, complete with one of her most perfect vocal performances and seductive jazzy bassline I was on that high. 

Now with news that Marling is due to release a new album this March, her sixth record in nine years, there’s a second single. Wild Fire keeps everything simple allowing the song to ooze through into your consciousness with elements of folk, gospel and country all in the mix. It is rather lovely and together with Soothing now makes the arrival of Semper Femina, the album, an enticing prospect.

Now - all I want to know is what people do with these lyric videos? Do you all sit there doing 'Laura Marling Karaoke?'

Laura Marling - Wild Fire (Lyric Video)

Laura Marling - Where Can I Go?

The movement that got labelled ‘nu-folk’ has taken quite a battering recently from critics, commentators and some sectors of the blogosphere. Much of this can be attributed to Mumford & Sons – the band who we recently heard described as ‘The Waitrose Levellers’ – their mainstream and US success taking them on a journey far from where they started and on the way losing some of those who rode with them at the beginning. Babel was just too much of a stadium pleasing repetition of their debut for some to stomach. The movement also lost some of its early fans as musician bandwagon jumpers tried to emulate Mumford's success by ditching their electric guitars, putting on their waistcoats and grabbing an acoustic but forgetting that the reason Mumford & Sons had success in the first place was a collection of great songs - which imitators failed to produce.

Yet another one of the scenes key figures, Laura Marling has yet to receive such a backlash and as she returns with her new single Where Can I Go?, taken from forthcoming sixteen track album Once I Was An Eagle in May we suspect she may be able to sidestep any criticism. Why? Because this guitar and organ led tune sweeps along with a wistful and warm country tinged sound that is without doubt Marling but also doesn’t sound like the safe career building option that the M&S boys opted for. 

Laura Marling - Where Can I Go?

The Saturday Surf #28

This Saturday Surf is a little different from normal. Rather than delivering to your screen and ears 3-5 MP3’s of gorgeous persuasion we’re posting the music in video form. There’s a reason for this and it’s to do with the first video / comments – but please enjoy the others as well.

Perfume Genius – Hood

Perfume Genius created one of our favourite albums of 2010 with Learning and also played one the of the most mesmerising concerts that we’ve seen in the last few years - so compelling and intimate was the performance of Mike Hadreas it left us feeling numb. By now you probably know that the short video advert for the second Perfume Genius album was removed from You Tube. You can see the advert here. Matador Records received the following explanation from You Tube:

“The ad has been disapproved because it violates our Adult Image/Video Content policy. Per this policy, video content, audio, static imagery, and site content must be family safe. Any ads that contain non family safe material are disapproved the overall feeling of the video is one of a more adult nature, including promoting mature sexual themes and what appears to be nude content. As such, the video is non-family safe.  In order to have this video ad approved, you will need to bring it into compliance with our policy.”

We’ve watched the video. It’s really not that different to this Lana Del Rey video on You Tube. Compare and contrast. Michael Stipe, lead singer of REM has blogged as a message to You Tube. “You were born of the 21st Century, now act like it.” We couldn't agree more.

Here’s the full song and video featuring porn star Arpad Miklos.

Laura Marling – I Was Just A Card

You’d probably think that it was impossible to dance to Laura Marling. You’d be wrong. This is captivating choreography.

Alabama Shakes - Hold On live on KCRW

One of our Ones To Watch 2012 delivering a top notch version of their song Hold On. Listen to the vocals - full of soul, rock 'n' roll and blues power.

That's this weeks Saturday Surf visual style. We're taking a few days break from the blog but will be back on February 1st.

Laura Marling - Sophia (Video)

There’s something that gets written about Laura Marling more than anything else. It goes something like ‘mature beyond her years’. It’s almost become a cliché to write it.

Laura’s previous two albums 2008’s Alas I Cannot Swim and last year’s I Speak Because I Can both ended up on the Breaking More Waves respective top ten albums of the year list and bagged Mercury Music Prize nominations. With this new song Sophia, from her third release A Creature I Don’t Know which is out in September there’s a suggestion that she may be about to do it all over again.

Laura has already stated that she’s not sure if this song is fully representative of the album and there have been reports that the first part of the new record has an underlying coffee table jazz style more similar to likes of Norah Jones. “Who’s been touching my skin, who have I been letting in,” she starts sounding world weary and disappointed on Sophia. From there she journeys through choir girl backing vocals last heard on Blue Roses debut album to a full blown alt. country rock tune. “When the bell tolls for your last day, you'll be getting down on your knees to pray,” she sings as the song reaches its conclusion. The impression left is something more substantial and complex than anything else she’s produced to date. Mature beyond her years.

UK Blogger Albums Of 2010 Poll Results

For six years now the superbly intelligent and literate Sweeping The Nation blog has been running the UK Bloggers Album of the Year poll, with each blog submitting (or in some cases Sweeping The Nation filching) their top ten LP’s of the year for some sort of points scoring contest that smooths out any idiosyncrasies of potential and arguable ‘poor taste.' For example the Breaking More Waves choice of Ellie Goulding in the top 10 was hardly likely to be replicated by the rest of the blogosphere – mainstream commercial female fronted pop music albums have nearly always received short change in end of year polls from anything outside ‘true pop’ blogs.

The poll gives us a good aggregation of what LP’s have been collectively floating UK bloggers boats over the past 12 months. The list shows some of the differences in UK bloggers tastes to our American cousins over the pond – for example there is very little hip hop on the list – but then maybe that’s because of the sample of blogs chosen to compile the list.

From the Breaking More Waves perspective it’s also interesting to see where we fall in line with our UK music blog peer group and it seems there’s a fair degree of commonality (Ellie Goulding being an exception) with 7 of our 10 albums of the year featuring in the Top 75 and 3 of our 10 being in the Top 10. The full list of 75 albums can be found at Sweeping the Nation – the link is below. We raised a little cheer when we saw that Hurts came above Crystal Castles and Gorillaz in the poll, were a little disappointed to find that Stornoway haven’t picked up the love from bloggers that we hoped they would and are startled to see that Midlake’s preposterous sleep inducing dirge of prog-folk got any votes at all, but that is the beauty of opinion and taste.

Click here to see the top 75 albums in full from the Sweeping The Nation poll.

Here’s a summary of our top ten which we voted for with links to each individual blog, followed by a couple of tracks from Sweeping The Nation’s own number 1 album of the year (and number 10 in the poll) Romance Is Boring by Los Campesinos!

The National – High Violet – Our #1 Blogger Poll #1

We said “Subtle and perfectly executed musicianship and songs.”

Hurts – Happiness – Our #2 Blogger Poll #28

We said “In a world where 'alternative' often means recording some fuzzy guitar and wailing vocals and doing a blurred photo shoot, by doing something so uncool and opposite to what most music fans expect, Hurts are in an odd way a real alternative.”

Sleigh Bells – Treats – Our #3 Blogger Poll #8

We said “A journey of youthful noise, out on the town, with its knickers off, ready to shag against a wall.”

Caitlin Rose – Own Side Now – Our #4 Blogger Poll #12

We said “Own Side Now is rooted in tradition and is hardly ground breaking, but that doesn't matter when it’s bedecked with this much quality.”

Stornoway – Beachcomber’s Windowsill – Our #5 Blogger Poll N/A

We said “If you’re feeling bad about life this cold winter, put on Beachcomber’s Windowsill; it will warm your soul.”

Zola Jesus – Stridulum II – Our #6 Blogger Poll #39

We said “A doomsday pop record full of emotion, vulnerability and accessible songs.”

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can – Our #7 Blogger Poll #3

We said “Musically evocative.”

Ellie Goulding – Lights – Our #8 Blogger Poll N/A

We said “Lights is a quality pop album that stands up to the weight of hype.”

Salem – King Night – Our #9 Blogger Poll N/A

We said “Like a druggy Halloween screw in a graveyard”

Perfume Genius – Learning – Our #10 Blogger Poll #36

We said “It’s the angsty, fragile and rawness of its whole that makes it such a brilliantly affecting album.”

There Are Listed Buildings by Los Campesinos!

Romance Is Boring by Los Campesinos!

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future by Los Campesinos!

Thanks to Simon at Sweeping The Nation for doing such a good job in compiling all the results again. Make sure you pay a visit to his blog.

Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can - Album of the Year 2010 #7

Laura Marling’s debut album featured in our top ten albums of 2008. Her second, I Speak Because I Can follows suit for 2010. This release shows an even greater maturity in Marling’s folk musicianship and lyricism than the first, Marling having stated that the album deals with “responsibility, particularly the responsibility of womanhood.” The production of the record matches her weighty development – not so much beefed up, but more deliberate, gently bolder and purposeful in its sound.

There’s just the right amount of variety in I Speak Because I Can to make every song stand out, yet also maintain cohesiveness. From the heavy Americana strum-downs of opening track Devil’s Spoke with its centrepiece lyric “ripping off each other’s clothes in the most peculiar way,” to the delicately strong Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) with its hushed strings and melodies – we’ll probably be playing this one at Christmas for years to come.

I Speak Because I Can succeeds because it is musically evocative. If it was a landscape it would be one of deep misty forests and tall craggy mountains, lit in deep sodium yellow. At times it feels virtually medieval, certainly stirring and haunting; there’s no doubt that a number of the stormier tracks bear the influence of Mumford & Sons, and Laura is currently stepping out with Marcus Mumford. However, unlike ‘The Sons’ the record is tempered with enough restraint to never have to resort to the full-on hoedown.

When I Speak Because I Can was released Laura announced that she intended to put a second record out in the same year. Whilst this didn’t materialise, when her third album does see the light of day we will be fascinated to see if she continues to develop at such a rate as she has between her first and second bodies of work. If she does it could be an absolute classic.

Latitude 2010 - Review (Part 1)

The attempt by Festival Republic to establish and market Latitude as a safe and family friendly festival took several steps backward this weekend. The horrific reports of two alleged rapes on the site, the partial collapse of the canopy structure over the Sunrise Arena stage (pictured above before collapse) on Friday afternoon, and Crystal Castles lead singer Alice Glass throwing punches at a member of the crowd during their Main Stage set on Saturday evening all spoilt what was otherwise a good natured and friendly vibe. It highlighted the fact that despite festivals ethos of love, peace and harmony, such events can be high risk environments.

Under sunny skies girls waltzed around the site wearing flower and leaf headdresses, people relaxed in deckchairs by the now famous multicoloured sheep adjacent the lake, whilst the cream of Central St Martins and Chelsea graduates displayed fashion shows. Despite a few regulars grumbling that the site was even busier than years past, that there was a more boisterous teenage element present (lured no doubt by acts such as Florence and the Machine, Crystal Castles and Vampire Weekend) and that the toilets were still the disgustingly smelly long drop types, overall Latitude 2010 still had a significant amount of chilled goodwill at its heart.

The ‘quiet opening’ on Thursday night got underway with a special midnight set in the middle of the woods by Tom Jones, performing songs from his critically acclaimed album Praise & Blame. With a full to capacity crowd and delayed by technical hitches, Jones arrived on the small stage to ask “Can you hear me OK?” and received a roar of approval in reply. However as his set progressed a significant portion of the crowd grew restless shouting for Sex Bomb and Delilah - hits that Jones had no intention of playing. This was no nostalgia trip, but an opportunity for Tom to display the essence of his talent - his remarkable voice; a soft mix of Presley and Cash - going back to his roots. With a band including Ethan Johns of Kings of Leon and Laura Marling production fame, that played upbeat rock n roll and gospel tinged ballads, Jones may not have delivered a typical crowd pleasing set, but for those who were prepared to listen with an open mind, it was sterling stuff.

The Sunrise Arena is a beautiful fern lined clearing in the woods, covered with a tent-like canopy for shade and shelter. It provided a safety related incident on Friday. Following well received sets from local acoustic singer songwriter Mathew P and the indie-folk-rock of Kurran and the Wolfnotes, a small lunch time crowd were waiting for country singer Delta Maid, when one of the heavy central support poles to the canopy dislodged and kicked out, falling to the floor, presumably from wind force pressure. Luckily because the space was relatively empty nobody was hit or hurt. With the canopy now partially collapsed security were quickly on hand to clear the area and the public asked to leave, the stage closed for the time being.

Over at the Lake Stage local band These Ghosts drew a young home crowd to witness their brooding, epic and passionate guitar anthems. “You are the most beautiful people. Thank you for making this the best day of our lives,” their overawed lead singer proclaimed in a believable way. Next up the sensual eyed ex-Pipette and every geeky indie boys pin-up poster girl Rose Elinor Dougall took the prize for biggest stilettos of the day. Her songs reference late 80’s / early 90’s indie and Casio keyed 50’s film noir. Come Away With Me sounded not dissimilar to The Sundays, the intro to Start / Stop / Synchro hinting at Broadcast. Less commercial than The Pipettes, these songs are likely to be significantly longer lasting.

The Lake Stage continued to push out varied new bands all afternoon. The bobble hat wearing welsh surf-guitar instrumentalists Y Niwl got a varied crowd dancing. Their sound may be obvious with it’s 60’s Hammond organ and garage-twang guitars, but it was perfect for the glorious sunshine - it wouldn’t have been at all surprising to find Quentin Tarantino running down the hill in Bermuda shorts signing the band up for his next film soundtrack,

“This is my sister, she spat water on my groin,” a member of Yuck announced from the stage. It certainly made a change from the standard “Are you having a nice festival / good time,” question that virtually every band used all weekend as their conversation piece with the audience. Squalling guitars, whiney vocals, fuzzy shoe-gazing pop, Yuck have got indie-rock-like-it-used-to-be down to a fine art and are appealingly good. They’re starting to give The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart a run for their money.

Gold is her name and it seems that Gold is her colour - for Alice Gold had either overdone it with the fake tan or has gone a few rounds sunbathing. Looking more like a Jordan wannabe than a rock star she belted out her MOR rock-pop with a big pair of lungs, to a small crowd of curious onlookers most of whom were passing by on their way to buy food or drink.

Sarah from The Good Natured first came to our attention as a bedroom-demo keyboard lass back in 2009. Now playing as a three piece band she’s ditched the keyboard, relying instead on a backing track. Displaying a girlish nervousness between numbers, her performance was entirely composite and confident during the songs themselves. She prowled like a hotpants and black eyeliner wearing tiger, thrusting her arms towards the crowd, throwing the microphone lead around her neck and dropping to her knees to sing in her strangely captivating flat tones. Sarah is certainly playing at being a ‘proper’ pop star, but possesses a darker edginess. Fortune Teller was a hooky swirling danceable beast and Your Body Is A Machine a deeper scratch below the surface.

The scratch becomes a darker wound with Esben and the Witch. The Brighton trio were primitive, experimental and powerful, the reverb laden female vocal more than ghostly, the drums, thrashing guitars, electronic beats and pulses of ambient noise not for the fainthearted, but all spectacularly good. One of the highlights of the afternoon at the Lake Stage for those who like their music a little eerie.

New bands led to more established artists on the main stage and then The Word sponsored 6,000 capacity tent, as day turned to night.

Laura Marling’s second album I Speak Because I Can may be bolder than her debut but would her songs transfer in the huge open space of the main stage, known as the Obelisk Arena ? The answer is yes, her hushed folk sound and quality musicianship only being slightly spoilt by sound bleed from the booming Wild Beasts set from The Word stage. Devil's Spoke and Rambling Man were authoritative and passionate, and when unadorned of her backing band she bears fruit with songs of beauty. Not so much the shy or humble girl she once was, Marling even engaged in some between song banter and got the crowd to accompany her on a whistling solo.

In the Word Arena Richard Hawley was un-typically quiet in between songs, which he finally explained was due a bout of bronchitis. Despite this however his lovelorn melodies were timeless and wonderful, particularly during Tonight The Streets Are Ours which was so romantic that if babies haven’t been created to its sound, there’s something tragically wrong with the world.

It’s left to The National to send folks back to their tents with the best set of the day. It’s powerful, weighty and intensely euphoric. Matt Berninger’s baritone is imposing, the bands music almost overwhelming, layered, lush and hugely emotional. They start with the slow build of the exquisite Runaway, and by the time they reach Bloodbuzz Ohio and Fake Empire grown men are on the verge of weeping. Mass singalongs occur. It’s that good. It’s that exhilarating. It’s moments like these that make you realise that, in the moment, music is that important. The National are now challenging Radiohead as the worlds best rock band. Even bigger stages surely beckon. Very special and the perfect way to end the first day.

Latitude 2010 Day 2 and Day 3 review posts will be published daily this week.

Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can

I Speak Because I Can is the second album from Laura Marling. It is a powerfully intricate piece of work that progresses her music with a sound that is darker, bolder and more complex than her debut album. Invigorating and engrossing, it gives sufficient justification for Marling to be tagged as one of the UK’s finest singer songwriters. Every song here is emotionally stirring, a victory for the simple untainted power of music. Much has been made of Laura following an English folk lineage, but there are just as many organic American sounds present as well. For example, the powerful Americana of the opening Devils Spoke features heavy strumming, deep menacing male backing vocals and lyrics about “Ripping of each others clothes in a most peculiar way.” It grabs the attention immediately and this is held till the end of the record. The closing title track, a song apparently based on the story of Odysseus told from the perspective of Penelope, his wife, is a mercilessly tasteful but passionate song where Lara’s cool, confident, detached style finally erupts a little with a tender wail towards the end. It’s strong stuff.

In between the opener and closer I Speak Because I Can possesses huge amounts of quality. Alpha Swallows is mountainous, medieval and warlike, a turning uprising of musical force making everything on her debut, one of our albums of 2008, seem weak by comparison. Goodbye England with its lyrics of “A friend of mine says it’s good to hear that you believe in love even if set in fear,” remakes the delicate but strong lightness of Emmy The Great, but makes the sound even greater. It is quite simply one of the most wonderful things heard this year. Another song Hope In The Air mines the classic folk tradition of managing to make bewitchingly beautiful music out of quite depressing lyrical themes. “There’s hope in the air, and hope in the water, but no hope for me, your last serving daughter,” she sings. This is an album that is musically evocative, rich and sows deep seeds that grow into the tallest of trees. The so called new folk revival shows no signs of going away yet.

When Marling released Alas I Cannot Swim many critics couldn’t help but fall over themselves and proclaim her mature beyond her years. It looks like that statement needs to be wheeled out again, for Marling is still only twenty. With the singer already claiming that this album is just a stepping stone, with another release planned later this year, it’s going to be hugely exciting to hear what she comes up with to compare against this. I Speak Because I Can is a masterful piece of work, and if it doesn’t get Laura a second Mercury prize nomination, something is hugely wrong. A modern classic formed out of the oldest of traditions.

Blissfields 2009

Following the unsuccessful attempt to change venue and step up from an event of around one thousand capacity to five thousand with subsequent cancellation due to poor ticket sales in 2008, Blissfields 2009 returned back to its roots, down at Bradley Farm in Hampshire. This year however Blissfields sold out weeks in advance. With headliners Super Furry Animals playing their smallest festival of their year and Mercury nominated and Breaking More Waves approved Laura Marling appearing on Friday night, organisers Paul and Mel Bliss served up aces on a weekend when Britains tennis hero Andy Murray failed to do so at Wimbledon. Added to these headliners were a variety of other bands and DJ's, including Breaking More Waves very own alter ego comedy DJ persona HoJo Hits supplying some slices of musical mature cheddar interspersed with the occasional of the moment big synth pop tune (Yes Giantess, La Roux, Passion Pit) to a relaxed chilled crowd who lapped up the sun at the main stage. Here’s DJ Hojo Hits daring to play Hansons Mmm Bop.

This year Blissfields welcomed punters to the ‘United States Of Bliss’, from entry onto the site with signs stating ‘Border control, please have your papers ready,’ to the camp site which was labelled the ‘Shanty Town.’ The festival even had its own president who was elected by way of a competition prior to the event and its own national anthem which was played out at the opening of the main stage each day. Then at the end of it all, a so called ‘Ambassadors Party’ was held in the big top with the eclectic Bestival / Sunday Best residents Sombrero Sound System and DJ Little Chief bringing the house down with a bunch of big old party anthems, whilst in between Beans On Toast brought his gravel clawed voice, acoustic guitar and songs about festivals, MDMA and Laura Marling to an appreciative crowd, complete with a stage invasion at the end.

So what of the live music highlights ? On Friday night the main stage belongs to Mumford and Sons and Beans On Toast favourite girl Laura Marling. Mumford and Sons play as the sun sets and the site turns into a romantic twilight haze lit by the moon, trails of lights marking pathways through the campsite and a few carefully considered spotlights. Marcus Mumford charms by explaining that he didn’t understand why there was so much disappointment when Blissfields was cancelled last year, but now he does. There is a real glow from the bands set, their sound unhindered by fashion; it pulls at the heartstrings. There is a tendency for the songs to be formulaic based around simple acoustic guitar and banjo building with a swell as kick drums take the songs rolling forward, but it's a formula that works. With the bands harmonies and bluegrass sound Mumford and Sons win many new fans at Blissfields and are probably the highlight for many. Half of the group then remain on stage to accompany Laura Marling who has grown massively in confidence since we first saw her about two years ago. Playing a mix of songs from her debut album Alas I Cannot Swim and new songs such as Hope In The Air, Marlings voice seems to be maturing, less girlish and more rasping and hearty; the sound of American country / folk played by a girl from Reading, England.

On Saturday three bands define the festival. Imperial Leisure first wowed Blissfields in 2007 and return as triumphant heroes, pulling one of the biggest crowds of the day, their energetic blend of rock, rap and ska skanking like Rage Against The Machine sparring with The Specials. From the word go the audience are in the palm of their lairy sweaty hands, their punchy brass and adrenalin soda fizz exertion creating a bouncing bottle of an audience that almost explodes with too much shaking. You can’t see the band in this video, but an audience reaction says it all.

“Last weekend we were at Glastonbury and it was too much like hard work,” announce Subgiant , echoing the thoughts of a number of punters at Blissfields. Subgiant are almost on home turf here, having been a Blissfields favourite and regular for some time now. Occupying the same sunset stage time as Mumford And Sons the day before, Subgiant bring samples and beats so large that we swear we feel the earth below our feet vibrating. A hedonistic warm old school festival vibe sweeps over Blissfields as bleeps and electronic riffs build and rise, strobes flash wildly, electronic drums pound and hands are raised in the air. Dancing outside has never been so much fun.

The final highlight comes from Super Furry Animals. Just last month we reported on their performance at Wychwood 2009 and suggested that they failed to move or engage. Tonight with a radically revamped set list SFA show us exactly why they have remained an essential part of the UK music scene, with their unconventional approach to song writing, ability to pen flawless pop songs, fine beards and sense of humour. “This is a live show just in case you thought you were watching the TV,” announces Gruff Rhys at one point. Later he gets the crowd to turn to the moon and howl at it. The songs they play have a spliffed out psychedelic oddness and inventiveness, but the band are never afraid to create just plain old infectious pop such as on Golden Retriever, which they dedicate to the kennels next to the festival site. Super Furry Animals are a fitting end to the main stage and whilst they may still not be a band we can adore, our admiration has been significantly increased.

Blissfields is the antithesis of corporate festival monsters such as Reading, Isle Of Wight and V Festival. It has a laid back, good natured feel that is suited to both young and old alike. With no over zealous security, lots of smiling faces, a site so small that it takes only five minutes to get anywhere, and this year a number of artists who gave excellent performances, Blissfields has firmly reasserted itself on the independent festival map following its stumble in 2008.

And to finish this review of Blissfields 2009 here’s a little more of our very own DJ set from a pod next to the main stage. Sun, dancing, and a bit of Wham. See you there next year maybe ?

Album Of The Year 2008 #4 - Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim

Alas I Cannot Swim by Laura Marling is a bold and creative folk album from a singer songwriter who has arrived without significant hype and is all the better for it. Released last February the album has grown in stature over the year which culminated in a nomination for the Mercury Music prize. It was probably just as well that Marling didn’t win, as the teenager is a shy individual, and the exposure from it may have been too much for her.

Breaking More Waves first came across Marling after hearing New Romantic, which sadly was not included on the album. It has been a love affair with her songs ever since. Subtlety and simplicity is the essence of Marling’s work to date, from the understated backing from members of Noah And The Whale and Mumford and Sons, to the lyrics which are sung in gentle maturity. “And I’m sorry young man, I cannot be your friend, I don’t believe in a fairytale end,” she sings on My Manic And I. These are not the words of your typical happy teenager full of the joys and naiveties of life. This theme of her lack of belief in the permanency of relationships is continued on Ghosts; “Lover please do not fall to your knees, it's not like I believe in everlasting love", she sadly intones.

This sadness is rooted in the country folk heritage of introspection more usually listened to by those in their older years. Yet Marling’s youthfulness has also engaged a whole new young audience more used to bouncing around a moshpit and getting drunk than thoughtful preoccupation of life and its complexities to acoustic music.

Whatever your age, and whatever your thoughts on life however, it would be almost impossible to listen to Alas I Cannot Swim and not agree that it is one of the best albums of the year.

This is the song Night Terror, just one of the many highlights.