''Alas, I Cannot Swim'' is the debut studio album by British singer-songwriter

Laura Marling Laura Beatrice Marling (born 1 February 1990) is a British folk singer-songwriter. She won the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for the same award at the 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 Brit ...

. The album was nominated for the 2008

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

Background

The album was produced by the lead vocalist of her previous band,

Noah and the Whale Noah and the Whale were a British indie rock and folk band from Twickenham, formed in 2006. The band's last line-up consisted of Charlie Fink (vocals, guitar), Tom Hobden (violin/ keyboards), Matt "Urby Whale" Owens (bass guitar), Fred Abbott ...

Charlie Fink Charlie Fink (born 16 May 1986) is an English songwriter, producer and filmmaker best known for fronting Noah and the Whale and for his work as a composer for theatre. He has been described as "one of Britain’s most daring and inventive song ...

, 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'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'': "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 Eastcote 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.

Reception

Critical

Media response to ''Alas, I Cannot Swim'' was favourable; aggregating website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reports a normalised rating of 73% based on 7 critical reviews. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''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'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History '' ...

noted "Marling's skill at making one word bleed with more meaning than half a dozen or so vainglorious chorus lines", while

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

'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'' is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Feist. It was released on April 23, 2007 in countries outside of North America, and May 1, 2007 in the United States and Canada. Following its release, it debuted on the ...

'', Mason said that "there's every chance that hewill 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 ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...

'', Matt Connors of ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northe ...

'' and Cameron Adams of ''

The Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald Su ...

''. In addition, "Ghosts" appeared in Australian radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

'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 ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' 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 track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as to ...

Personnel

– voice, guitar *

Marcus Mumford Marcus Oliver Johnstone Mumford (born 31 January 1987) is a British singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of the band folk band Mumford & Sons. He also plays a number of instruments with the group ...

– drums, percussion, accordion *Tom "Fiddle" Hobden – string arrangement *Pete Roe – banjo, keyboards *Ted Dwane – double bass *Joe Ichinose – fiddle *Guy Davie – mastering *

Guy Katsav Guy Katsav (born April 1980) is a British record producer, mixing engineer and remixer based in London. Biography His selected credits include mixing a no. 1 album by The View and a Mercury award nominated album of 2011 Brit award winner - Lau ...

– recording, mixing *

– production

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2008 debut albums Laura Marling albums Virgin Records albums