Gig review: Laura Marling, St Giles Cathedral

ALTHOUGH Laura Marling has increased in confidence as a performer to the point where she has undertaken a series of solo shows in some of the country’s finest cathedrals, she was not entirely in harmony with St Giles, confusing Robert Louis Stevenson’s memorial with his grave and, upon prompting from an audience member, confessing her complete ignorance of John Knox.

Charming though she is, the audience were not there for her quiet chat but to hear her pure tones and hypnotic folkloric songs in such an ancient, resonant setting. The cathedral acoustics both helped and hindered her in this respect, carrying her upper register to the rafters on the mesmerising Leonard Cohenesque Night After Night, while a distant tolling bell gently enhanced the mood. But at other points, Marling could well have been speaking in tongues. Her enunciation on Ghosts was so casual that you could barely discern the language, never mind the lyrics.

Without her band, Marling cut a rather fragile figure, which only enhanced the wintry wistfulness of Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) but there was steel in her fingertips as she delivered the Spanish guitar inflections of Alpha Shallows and showcased a burst of the love theme from Cinema Paradiso, composed in her favourite D tuning, and therefore a relative of her most recent material.

Historical setting aside, Marling is not one to dwell in the past, and the one new song in her set furthered her latest bluesy direction.

Rating: ***