Alas, I Cannot Swim
Encyclopedia
Alas, I Cannot Swim is the debut studio album
of British folk
singer-songwriter
Laura Marling
. The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize.
, Charlie Fink, and was initially released on 4 February 2008, conventionally released a week later.
Marling had released a number of smaller singles and EPs before releasing her debut album. She told Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph
: "I did my first EP just to get rid of songs I didn't like. They were just so awful. I don't think I really found out what I was doing until about six months after I signed a deal."
"The whole album is about being between 18 and 19; about love."
reports a normalised
rating of 73% based on 7 critical reviews. The Guardian
s Caroline Sullivan called the album "unnervingly grown-up" and wrote: "Simplicity is the key: playing acoustic guitar and singing in a gentle verge-of-womanhood voice, she keeps things homespun and rootsy." Kev Kharas of Drowned in Sound
noted "Marling's skill at making one word bleed with more meaning than half a dozen or so vainglorious chorus lines", while Allmusic's Stewart Mason commented on the "old-school '70s singer/songwriter vibe" of the album, focusing in particular on her "alluringly husky voice and graceful acoustic guitar".
Due to the timing of the album coinciding with Feist's commercially successful third studio album The Reminder
, Mason said that "there's every chance that [she] will get lost in the shuffle as the unexpected commercial success [...] leads major labels to unleash hordes of similarly talented female singer/songwriters". Comparisons between Marling and Canadian songwriter Joni Mitchell
were cited by many, including Andrew Murfett of The Age
, Matt Connors of The Courier-Mail
and Cameron Adams of The Herald Sun.
In addition, "Ghosts" appeared in Australian radio station Triple J
's Hottest 100 of 2008 at #43, and "Crawled Out of the Sea" was used in the final episode of the third series of Skins
. In October 2011, NME
placed "My Manic and I" at number 146 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
of British folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Laura Marling
Laura Marling
Laura Beatrice Marling is an English folk musician from Eversley, Hampshire.Initially prominent within the London folk scene, she has also toured with a number of well-known indie artists in the UK. Her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim and her second album I Speak Because I Can were nominated for...
. The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize.
Background
The album was produced by the lead vocalist of her previous band Noah and the WhaleNoah and the Whale
Noah and the Whale are an English indie folk band from Twickenham, London, England formed in 2006. The band consists of Charlie Fink , Tom Hobden , Matt "Urby Whale" Owens , Fred Abbott , and Michael Petulla .-Early years and Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down...
, Charlie Fink, and was initially released on 4 February 2008, conventionally released a week later.
Marling had released a number of smaller singles and EPs before releasing her debut album. She told Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
: "I did my first EP just to get rid of songs I didn't like. They were just so awful. I don't think I really found out what I was doing until about six months after I signed a deal."
"The whole album is about being between 18 and 19; about love."
Recording
The album was recorded in East Coast Studios, a small independent studio in the west of London regarded as "honest and organic" by Marling.Promotion and release
The album was first released on 4 February 2008 in a "songbox" format, which comprised the CD album, a redeemable code for free concert tickets, and a "memento" for every song on the album.Critical
Media response to Alas, I Cannot Swim was generally favourable; aggregating website MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reports a normalised
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating of 73% based on 7 critical reviews. The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Caroline Sullivan called the album "unnervingly grown-up" and wrote: "Simplicity is the key: playing acoustic guitar and singing in a gentle verge-of-womanhood voice, she keeps things homespun and rootsy." Kev Kharas of Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
noted "Marling's skill at making one word bleed with more meaning than half a dozen or so vainglorious chorus lines", while Allmusic's Stewart Mason commented on the "old-school '70s singer/songwriter vibe" of the album, focusing in particular on her "alluringly husky voice and graceful acoustic guitar".
Due to the timing of the album coinciding with Feist's commercially successful third studio album The Reminder
The Reminder
The Reminder is the third full-length album by indie artist Feist. It was released on April 23, 2007 in countries outside of North America, and May 1, 2007 in the United States and Canada....
, Mason said that "there's every chance that [she] will get lost in the shuffle as the unexpected commercial success [...] leads major labels to unleash hordes of similarly talented female singer/songwriters". Comparisons between Marling and Canadian songwriter Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
were cited by many, including Andrew Murfett of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, Matt Connors of The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
and Cameron Adams of The Herald Sun.
In addition, "Ghosts" appeared in Australian radio station Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
's Hottest 100 of 2008 at #43, and "Crawled Out of the Sea" was used in the final episode of the third series of Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
. In October 2011, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
placed "My Manic and I" at number 146 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
Commercial
Alas, I Cannot Swim entered the UK Albums Chart at number 45. It was certified gold in the United Kingdom, selling over 100,000 copies.Track listing
All songs written and composed by Laura Marling.- "Alas I Cannot Swim" is included at the end of "Your Only Doll (Dora)" as a hidden trackHidden trackIn the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
)