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Oct 25, 2024 Web Exclusive By Mark Moody

Whether by force of will or fate, Laura Marling’s 2020 album Song For Our Daughter, in fact, was the precursor to the birth of Marling’s first child. A girl. Recorded in her home studio, Patterns in Repeat focuses Marling’s lens squarely on motherhood, family, and the passage of time. Already an accomplished lyricist some eight albums in, her seemingly offhanded observations here are gut wrenching in their simplicity. “Long nights, fast years so they say,” Marling dispenses on the string swelled bridge of the gorgeous opener, “Child of Mine.”

Marling pulls extended family into her orbit on the following “Patterns,” but also manages to sneak in the moment of her daughter’s own birth. “I arched my back, and then from the black you were born,” she matter of factly coos over the song’s subtle arrangement. Putting herself in the protagonist’s seat for “Your Girl,” Marling imagines her familial past and future with her parents foremost on her mind. And if “Looking Back” sounds a bit of a ’70s TV theme, it’s in fact a song of her father’s from that very era.

Though much of the album benefits from the subtle hiss and found sounds of her home studio, the string embellishment on “No One’s Gonna Love You Like I Can,” provided courtesy of Rob Moose, is a swirling highlight of the album. Later, “Caroline” pulls off a blend of wit and nostalgia surrounding a nearly forgotten friend while recalling a snippet of an ages old song. If not a lyrical nod to Townes VanZandt’s “Tecumseh Valley,” Marling’s arrangements with strings and backing vocals recall some of his earliest works.

Marling has built a beguiling catalog in a relatively short period of time and Patterns in Repeat stands easily with what came before. Sentimental and reflective, with her incisive observations keeping things from running to the maudlin. Sticking with her gut and keeping things on the simpler side has created a work of great depth, where anyone with some life experience under their belt will take different things away each time through. (www.lauramarling.com)

Author rating: 8/10