Laura Marling - Night Terror

You know when the single starts with ‘I woke up and he was screaming,’ it may well not be Fall Out Boy’s latest offering. Instead this little gem of a track, taken from Marling’s well-received album ‘Alas I Cannot Swim’, is a song of two halves. Opening with delicate guitar strumming, the song, whose sparingly potent beats are the perfect medium for Marling to alleviate her troubles, is a gentle reminder of why the troubled troubadour will always be around.

‘Night Terror’’s biggest asset is comes from Marling’s own voice, which carries the track above and beyond that of the haunting melody. Centring on some dark and troubled times for our singer songwriter, ‘If they want him they can fight me,’ she manages to usher out, all lovingly building up to the introduction of the cello in the final third. The single is a graceful stab at the age-old relationship game, lush but ultimately leaving you with a heavy feeling of mourning. Beautifully rich yet retaining a sense of restraint, this is a prime example of simple storytelling at its best.