Laura Marling, Iota Club and Cafe, Virginia

Lest you forget, Laura Marling’s debut album in 2008 ‘Alas I Cannot Swim’ was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Yet Marling is a lot less intimidating in person than one might think. If all you’ve seen of her lately are the shadowy videos for ‘Devil’s Spoke’ and ‘Rambling Man’, you might be disappointed that she is now sports short, platinum blonde hair, looking more girl next door than introspective folk singer. Also, her demeanour is more shy and more quiet as a mouse than some of the darker songs would seem to indicate.

On a mild spring night, she performs to probably an older, more respectful crowd than she is used to back in England, but this seems to suit her fine. When she first begins, she doesn’t want to make eye contact and she wants to say little, as if afraid to give away anything. But as the night goes on, she has the spirit to tell more stories and effortlessly engaged the audience, which makes believers of those in the room who have come for a evening of light folk and endears her further to the already devoted. One particularly amusing anecdote Marling shared detailed how in her early performance years, Neil Young’s song about heroin, ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ (a mainstay of her live shows in those days) led her confused mother to believe her young daughter had written it and was erroneously telling everyone so.

Fans present for the gig must have been, for sure, deeply aware of her massive popularity back home. So much that the privilege of seeing her play at a tiny place like Iota, situated just outside the Nation’s Capital, is going to be one of those experiences you’ll tell your grandchildren. The audience, rapt in attention, cheers long and loudly after each of Marling’s lovely but seemingly far too brief numbers. You can tell by the smile that spreads across her face in response to the clapping and appreciative shouts that she is happy (and possibly relieved?) of the reception, that people on this side of the pond enjoy her style of music.

And why wouldn’t they? Standing in front of her, it is hard to conceive that Marling is only 20, as her fingers glide fluidly and expertly across the frets and down the neck of one of several beloved guitars. The acoustics of the venue make the resulting notes so crisp, and with her clear, unwavering voice in songs such as the wistful ‘Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)’, the show sends gig-goers into sheer bliss, judging from the many sighs, oohs and ahhs I hear behind me during Marling’s set. Her sophomore album released this year, ‘I Speak Because I Can’, was a confident effort. Sunday’s performance in Arlington proved to Washingtonians what folk-loving Britain already knows very well: this songbird from Hampshire has singing and songwriting talent in spades, and given the opportunity, she can leave audiences in awe.