When was seen bouncing around the on the night of Tuesday, May 25, she was just another 20-year-old girl, chatting with friends. At 10 p.m. when she took the stage, however, she transformed into a force.
Marling, touring in support of her second full-length album, “I Speak Because I Can,” has a commanding stage presence. With little more than a full voice and a guitar, she can quiet an audience. For her hour-long set, the self-described “very English” woman had the audience enraptured and silent. Even in-between-song communication was done in whispers.
Marling opened up with “Devil’s Spoke,” the first track from her new album, with the help of a full backing band. The group, partially comprised of members from the opening acts, put force behind the singer-songwriter, making the choruses loud and the backup vocals harmonize. They continued with several of the newer tracks, but also a highly celebrated version of “Ghosts,” from Marling’s 2008 debut, “Alas, I Cannot Swim.”
Several songs in, the band left Marling on her own with the audience. On her own, she became a bit chattier, sharing feelings about the tour and background to her stories. Preceding her performance of “Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)” she recounted visiting the English countryside with her father, an experience that stood out to her for its beauty, and the fact her father made it known he would like to visit the place again before his death. There were a few wet cheeks in the audience.
Marling also used the solo time to perform a song she had written only two days prior. After a quick retuning, the track went off with out a hitch, and served as a reason why Marling is such a compelling artist: she’s able to maintain a styled and stable presence inside a genre while having no two songs sound alike.
For her final songs, the backing band returned to close out the set with the title tracks “You’re Only Doll (Dora)” and “I Speak Because I Can.” With a no-encore rule, Marling and her cohorts humbly accepted the crowd’s applause and packed up their bags. It was a very English ending for a very English lady.
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Erica Grossman is a Denver-based writer and photographer. You can contact her at eagrossman@gmail.com or follow her on .
