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Laura Marling at ICC Church in the Allston neighborhood of Boston on 13 September

Currently touring North America from her native UK on her “Fee Fie Fo Fum” tour to promote her debut album “Alas I Cannot Swim,” Laura drew a large audience who seemed to be quite familiar with her music. Formerly singing backup for Noah And The Whale until she struck out on her own at barely 18, Laura is influenced by Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and other rock-folk legends and brings her own interpretations to the genre with her angelic voice and unassuming guitar, backed by a several-pieced (the number seems to vary) band including a gorgeous upright bass and violin. Her music has a trad-Appalachian sound to it at times that belies her UK place of origin.

Continue reading for more info, gallery, and shooting notes.

All pictures and content are copyrighted, All Rights Reserved. Please don’t use without my permission.

Laura has created a quite interesting marketing plan for this new CD, in that it doesn’t come in the traditional CD packaging but rather in a “song box” personally designed by her:

“The idea came of a conversation I had with a guy who owned the studio I was recording in,’ says Marling. ‘He said he was depressed with the way music’s going, because nobody buys records any more and people are listening to MP3s on bad headphones, using music for wallpaper.’ So, she designed the chart-ineligible, beautifully printed ‘Song Box’: ‘I want people to *love music,’ she says, ‘I want people to treasure it, not just my songs, but treasure music.”

-Laura Marling, http://www.lauramarling.com/biodisco.php

It seems more musicians these days are realizing that the so-called olden days of music are over for a lot of people. I know people who have NEVER bought a physical CD, preferring to get everything digitally. I personally both buy a CD and download (or rip) the music because I like to have the tangible copy while enjoying the convenience of being able to cart around 5,000 songs on an iPod. I also prefer newspapers over online versions also for the tactile response that a computer screen will never give–but for those who are the digital-only type, if you want to get them to actually pay money you will have to give them something special. Whether this is innovative packaging or limited editions or special printed content, there will have to be some difference in the digital vs. the physical, otherwise people will just download it and regrettably probably steal it. Digital music (and other digital content) has come to be viewed as ephemeral and without ownership: people believe if it’s on the Internet it must be free. I deal with this myself as it relates to photography all the time. If artists want to move forward in this electronic age, we’re all going to have to adapt.

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Shooting notes:

It was fairly dark with mainly yellow lighting, which is apparent in a lot of the pictures. I had a hard time getting her face in the light; often the angle of the stage lights put her from the neck down in good light but her face in the dark. Or if the majority of her face was well lit there were sightly strange and unattractive shadows on it, so of course I couldn’t use those. She has a shadow-induced Steve Buscemi moustache in several, which is funny but they’re not pictures I would want to put up or that I think she would appreciate!

As the gallery shows, I had to convert several to Antique Light or B&W by necessity, although I have a fondness for those settings anyway and often use them even when I don’t “have” to. I only brought one body with me and used the 24-70mm f2.8, the 50mm f1.8, and 85mm f1.8 for most of the shots although I put on the 70-200mm f2.8 and went and stood on a chair in the back for a few. Pretty much everything had to be shot wide open and at 1600 ISO, sometimes going up to 2000 or 3200. I was allowed to go up onto the sides of the stage and in the back corners of stage right and left, which was fortunate as it was a bit hard to get up close right in front. Although perhaps if I had done more of that I would have gotten her face in the light more. I hated to keep asking people to move though even though they are generally very accommodating to my requests at any gig I shoot.

The title track of Laura’s CD has some words to live by:

Theres a house across the river
But alas i cannot swim
And a garden of such beauty
That the flowers seem to grin
Theres a house across the river
But alas i cannot swim
I’ll live my life regretting that i never jumped in

Alas I Cannot Swim | ©Laura Marling

When you come to that river in whatever way you come to it, don’t be afraid to do what you know you want to do.

Laura Marling official site • Laura Marling on myspace

Laura Marling is in San Francisco tonight and has four more North American dates before returning to the UK.

Acknowledgments:

Special thanks to Laura at Press Here for emailing me about Laura’s appearance and setting me up on the guest list, as well as arranging the photography access.