Short-listed for the Mercury Prize (twice, the first time at 16), 20-year old Laura Marling is the real thing, if you're looking for a post-Dylan, post-Mitchell singer/songwriter.
The Guardian interviewed her last week and made a video that is actually somewhat more effective than the one I've embedded here.
Great quote:
She admits she "didn't get" popular culture as a teenager; it's only her incipient feminism that's dissuaded her from wanting to live in a Jane Austen novel ("I don't think I'd want to be a woman held back by her generation, that's not ideal.") And her ideal day off is "a nice café and a crossword". "I think I'm quite... not prudish in an extreme way but... I think I quite like things to be polite and elegant."
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7 comments:
Dead center. That "polite and elegant" quote is what a Russian femme fatale would use to seduce state secrets out of Tulkinghorn.
The key is in that headline: "I deliberately tell things at arm's length." Explaining why this is preferred could be the beginning of a personal aesthetic.
Agreed -- or in my case (since I've been developing my taste for about 55 years) the middle. At any rate, explanations will come after I stop enjoying things, which should take about another 30 years.
As I say below, our taste does mean something.
BTW, anyone who choses to express themselves in fiction, through invented characters, could also be said to be writing at arm's length.
Oh, and... St. John's amy revoke your diploma for the implication that we can't enjoy things and seek to understand them at the same time. Bit of a cop out?
I didn't mean "seek" explanations. I meant "provide", which is a completely different thing.
I find most of my thoughts about popular music to be completely fatuous.
I have pretty good taste, though.
"Strive to think unfatuous thoughts." Your Chinese fortune cookie for today.
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