Once I Was An Eagle

About

On the black and white album cover for <i>Once I Was an Eagle</i>, Laura Marling reaches up to the sky, stretching her fingers wide like a shadow puppet of a bird. It evokes freedom and a certain feminine self-possession. And thi, her best and most accomplished album—and her personal favorite of her catalog—is an extended and expansive album about motion. It was recorded before her move to LA from her home of England, but feels like it could have been made anywhere in the world, its eclectic mix of instruments both Eastern and Western. It’s as though Marling has answered the call to the wild, refusing to be stationary. The first four songs work as one extended unit, conceived under the influence of marijuana, something Marling was playing around with for the first time. In these track, she tosses away her past relationship. “I will not be a victim of romance,” she retorts on “I Was an Eagle,” a magical tapestry of sitar playing and string, and reasserts that she is a great symbol of American freedom while her ex-partner is a meek dove. Later, she finds a fresh love. “Hey there, new friend across the sea/If you figure things out, would you figure in me?” she sings in “When Were You Happy? (And How Long Has That Been).” Each song blends into the last and has a trance-like quality, which has the effect of bringing calm as she asks great questions of life, like she’s a philosopher channeling wisdom. Can one’s desires ever be fulfilled (“Pray for Me”)? How true can connection really be between two individuals (“You Know”)? .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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