Laura Marling, Boy and Bear,Teeth and Tongue @ The Corner,Melbourne (22/01/09)

Thu 28th Jan, 2010 in Gig Reviews

On her first visit to Australia as part of the 2008 Splendour program, Laura Marling garnered herself an extremely passionate following. On the back of an impressive debut LP, her performances around the country were highly regarded; despite her reserved and at times, awkward demeanour. Now, having made the somewhat Hollywood arc of timid blonde to assertive brunette, Marling returned to the Corner, having embraced a fuller, more rounded folk sound. With a sold-out crowd on-hand to welcome her back, she and her band showed why her new album is worth getting excited about.

If Jess Cornelius was nervous about playing without the rest of Teeth and Tongue, it didn’t show. With just an electric guitar in hand, Cornelius confidently pushed through a lo-fi set that was warmly received by a decent-sized Corner crowd. Cornelius’ smokey, bluesy voice, drawled over thick fuzzy guitar, may leave her somewhere between The Waifs and PJ Harvey, but her relaxed on-stage demeanour grounds her very much as a Melbourne musician. Drawing many to the foot of the stage, she was an ideal start to the night.

Things are starting to happen for Sydney four-piece Boy and Bear. Pushed by the national youth broadcaster and featured on iTunes, they sit on the cusp of something big. At a time when soaring male harmonies are the new black, it was only moments into their set when comparisons to Fleet Foxes were whispered. Yet, for all their three-part harmonising (almost every song begun in this manner), Boy and Bear consciously apply less restraint to their music; pushing through with several low-lying Johnny Cash-type riffs. The Storm counters this slightly, with Dave Hosking’s vocals freed-up over more gentle guitar. A thoroughly enjoyable set was, however, brought to a close with the driving sounds of Mexican Mavis; the cheer that greeted its conclusion suggesting that they had won themselves a new room of fans. Tight as a live band and affable between songs, there is no reason why Boy and Bear won’t be headlining the same stage in the next 12 months.

As Laura Marling and her band took to the stage, the first calls from the crowd were not for her, but her drummer; who sat shadowed in the far corner of the stage.
“That’s Mumford! That’s Marcus Mumford!”
Less than 18 months ago when Marling last toured Australia, Mumford was an unrecognisable member of her backing band. Now, in the week when it was revealed that he and his band would sit atop this country’s no.1 music poll for last year, Mumford looked sheepish for attracting much of the attention.

After that initial excitement had cleared, Marling launched into Devil’s Spoke, one of many new songs for the evening. With full-bodied support from her band, there seemed a new intensity and force to Marling’s song writing. After a powerful three minutes of fast-paced gypsy-folk, the song was brought to an abrupt halt, with the audience taking a second to remember who it was they thought they had come to see before bursting into applause.

Things suddenly became a whole more familiar when the opening notes to Ghosts were strum, prompting a raucous word-for-word sing-a-long. Given the countless times Marling must have played the song, there was an impressive energy to it; driven forward, it must be said, by Mumford’s drumming.

The combination of the crowd’s enthusiasm and the full and accomplished support she was receiving from her band, featuring Tim Hart and Jake Tarasenko from Boy and Bear, seemed to be giving Marling a real spark and sense of confidence. Rambling Man, another song off her upcoming LP, I Speak Because I Can, was pushed through at great pace with a blend of banjo and acoustic guitar.

With her band briefly vacating the stage, Marling gave further insight into what the new album might sound like with another two new songs. It seemed initial indications about her – œnew sound’ may have been slightly misleading, as both songs saw her revert to just an acoustic guitar. For some, this may have been good news but they failed to carry quite the same force and conviction as the earlier offerings.

Crowd favourites Failure and Night Terror ensured that any ill thoughts about new material were forgotten however, with Marling somewhat taking the piss out of the latter song by whistling its normally dramatic close through her teeth. Continuing on alone, Marling delved further into the new album with her most recent single Goodbye England (Covered in Snow). Given the day’s scorching weather, she suggested that perhaps the song was a little out of context; asking whether anyone in the crowd had ever actually seen snow. Nonetheless, the Goodbye England strikes a really good balance between her old and new approaches and has clearly already been embraced by her fans.

As Mumford and Co. returned to the stage, Marling set about closing her set in the same way she started it. With Mumford on accordion, her and her band powered through My Manic and I before bringing the rest of Boy and Bear on stage for a full-blooded folk-jam on Alas I Cannot Swim, the night’s final song.

There is much to be excited about in Laura Marling. Her debut record was a stirring, at times too dramatic take on contemporary folk. Now, she appears more comfortable with her music; building her songs up with fast-paced swells of various strings and drums. It is fitting that Marcus Mumford should continue to join her on stage, as the two are part of a growing – œnu-folk’ movement that is brimming with confidence and enthusiasm. Marling has achieved much already but on the evidence of her show at the Corner, there is still a great deal more to come. Oh, and she hasn’t yet turned twenty.

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