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May 11, 2020 By Samantha Small Laura Marling

In April, British folk singer Laura Marling released her eighth album, Song For Our Daughter, via Partisan/Chrysalis (stream it here). The lead single, “Held Down,” was one of our Songs of the Week. On Friday night, Marling joined The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform an acoustic rendition of the track from home as part of their #PlayAtHome series. Watch the performance below.

Song For Our Daughter was originally scheduled for a late summer release, but Marling announced that it was coming out in April instead due to COVID-19. Whereas most release date changes due to the pandemic are going the other way, with albums being pushed back, Marling moved this one up.

Marling previously issued this press statement about the album and release date change: “My new album Song For Our Daughter is coming out this week, ahead of our planned schedule. In light of the change to all our circumstances, I saw no reason to hold back on something that, at the very least, might entertain, and at its best, provide some sense of union.

“It’s strange to watch the facade of our daily lives dissolve away, leaving only the essentials; those we love and our worry for them. An album, stripped of everything that modernity and ownership does to it, is essentially a piece of me, and I’d like for you to have it. I’d like for you, perhaps, to hear a strange story about the fragmentary, nonsensical experience of trauma and an enduring quest to understand what it is to be a woman in this society. When I listen back to it now, it makes more sense to me than when I wrote it. My writing, as ever, was months, years, in front of my conscious mind. It was there all along, guiding me gently through the chaos of living. And that, in itself, describes the sentiment of the album—how would I guide my daughter, arm her and prepare her for life and all of its nuance? I’m older now, old enough to have a daughter of my own, and I feel acutely the responsibility to defend The Girl. The Girl that might be lost, torn from innocence prematurely or unwittingly fragmented by forces that dominate society. I want to stand behind her and whisper in her ear all the confidences and affirmations I had found so difficult to provide myself. This album is that strange whisper; a little distorted, a little out of sequence, such is life.

“I want you to have it.”

Marling also recently did a three-song set for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts series. She performed “Held Down” along with two other singles from the album, Strange Girl,” and title track “Song For Our Daughter.”

Also read our 2015 interview with Marling about Short Movie.

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